With home sales once again at substantial levels in the Inland Empire, the area is making some progress in burning off its excess inventory of shadow market single-family homes offered for lease. In turn, renters are streaming back into apartment communities, with 2010’s initial three months marking the fourth consecutive quarter of solidly positive apartment demand.
Because that notable absorption has occurred at the same time that very few new apartments have come online, the rebound in apartment occupancy in Riverside and San Bernardino counties ranks among the most pronounced seen anywhere in the country.
Apartment occupancy climbed another 1.3 percentage points between December 2009 and March 2010, taking the total upturn since occupancy bottomed in early 2009 to an impressive 3.4 points. That’s encouraging, though today’s overall occupancy of 93.7 percent still trails the 2000-2007 average by about 2.5 points.
Source: MPF Research’s Greg Willett, April 12