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US Vacancy Rate Rises For First Time Since 2009 In Wake Of Apartment Building Construction Surge

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Submitted by Mike Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,

This is an interesting headline, and one that anyone paying attention to the domestic real estate market should pay close attention to. We know that millennials aren’t the ones buying new homes in America (that market has been cornered by private equity and hedge funds as well as foreigners laundering suspect money), but those millennials who do posses the cash flow to move out on their own definitely appear to be renting. Due to this trend of renting as opposed to buying by average citizens, there has been an enormous construction boom of apartment complexes across the U.S.

For what it’s worth, I’ve never seen construction in the Denver/Boulder area anywhere near what I am seeing now in the four years I have lived here. It looks like scenes from Miami in 2006.

We learn from Bloomberg that:

The U.S. apartment-vacancy rate rose for the first time in almost five years, a sign that supply is starting to catch up to rental demand after a boom in multifamily construction.

 

The vacancy rate rose to 4.2 percent in the third quarter from 4.1 percent the previous three months, the first increase since the end of 2009, Reis Inc. said in a report. Net leasing gains of 37,233 units lagged behind the 46,055 new units completed, the New York-based real estate research firm said.

 

Apartment developers are poised to finish building the most units this year since 1999, when the economy was booming, Severino said. With construction outpacing the net total of units likely to be leased over the next four years, “we expect the national vacancy rate to slowly drift upward,” he said.

 

So far this year, 113,024 apartment units have been built in the U.S., exceeding the 85,438 units completed through nine months of 2013, according to Reis.

 

Rents rose, partly because new units charge higher-than-average prices, Reis said. Effective rents, or what tenants pay after any landlord price breaks such as a free month, climbed 3.4 percent from a year earlier to an average $1,111 per month, and were little changed from $1,100 in the second quarter, according to Reis. Rents are at record highs on a nominal basis, according to the researcher.

So rents are still rising, but for how long? Unless incomes rise substantially, it will be difficult to continue this trend, which is why so many of the financial players have already started bailing on the “buy-to-rent” strategy.

 

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Fri, 10/03/2014 - 18:51 | 5286806 jefferson32
jefferson32's picture

(Off topic). A quick recap of my research so far. What to do if you contract the Ebola virus:

- Drink regular and large amounts of ORS (Oral Rehydration Solution) as soon as the diarrhea starts; this will prevent you from dying of dehydration before your immune system gets to kill the virus. Vomiting should not deter you from continuing with the ORS (just pause for 5-10 minutes, then carry on). See here.

- Flood (as early as possible) your body with constant high volumes of Vitamin C (20'000 - 500'000 mg per day), either intravenously or orally (liposomal delivery), which was proven to effectively combat any virus infection. It will prevent you from dying of scurvy before your immune system gets to kill the virus. See Linus Pauling and this and this.

And keep in mind:

- If this is indeed a bioterror attack by TBTB (which it likely is), it means there is an easy way to survive it. Vitamin C and rehydration are key.

- It's not actually the virus that kills people per-say, it is dehydration or Vitamin C depletion (scurvy).

- The LAST thing to do (as in, the thing NEVER to do) is to report your illness / go to the hospital/doctor.

- Please don't take my word for it, do your own research.

By following this simple advice you'll most likely survive, and need not worry.

 

Fri, 10/03/2014 - 18:58 | 5286827 OceanX
OceanX's picture

Back on Topic:

"For what it’s worth, I’ve never seen construction in the Denver/Boulder area anywhere near what I am seeing now in the four years I have lived here. It looks like scenes from Miami in 2006."

I was shocked at the amount of building in Austin, 2010-2013 before I left.  Neighbors sold their house for $650,000 and it was bulldozed....

Fri, 10/03/2014 - 19:01 | 5286845 OceanX
OceanX's picture

Funny thing was, while shopping at the H.E.B. on S. Congress and Oltorf.  I asked the cashier what he thought the percentage of people coming through his line paid with "Food Stamps"  %50? 

He laughed and replied, "more like 80-90 percent..."

 

 

Fri, 10/03/2014 - 19:17 | 5286867 Skateboarder
Skateboarder's picture

What are the rents like in that area?

edit: I ask because the housing bubble made a rent bubble also. Rents, like commodities, never go down once gone up. In the SF Bay Area, you have shitloads of families making way below $100K (average required to survive with a family), who need to dish out way more than 50% of total family income for rent.

Fri, 10/03/2014 - 19:34 | 5286922 OceanX
OceanX's picture

I lived in South Central Austin, from CL:  http://austin.craigslist.org/search/apa?query=78704

 

Sat, 10/04/2014 - 08:38 | 5288128 GetZeeGold
GetZeeGold's picture

 

 

Recovery......Fall?

 

Debbie Wasserman Schultz 2016.....so crazy it might just make sense.

 

Fri, 10/03/2014 - 19:23 | 5286907 Dapper Dan
Dapper Dan's picture

Back off topic.... maybe

 

Ebola outbreak 2014

Oct 03, 2014, 11:13 PM GMT 8m
Dallas officials say family in Ebola apartment has been moved to a stand-alone house in Dallas County. Apartments and motels in city would not take family - @scottfarwell see original on twitter.com
Fri, 10/03/2014 - 19:29 | 5286914 robertocarlos
robertocarlos's picture

In a few months they can bulldoze that house and build another apt block.

Fri, 10/03/2014 - 19:37 | 5286926 OceanX
OceanX's picture

And so it goes, until ...they can't,

Fri, 10/03/2014 - 18:58 | 5286829 Dre4dwolf
Dre4dwolf's picture

My plan was

Colodial Silver

Vitamin C

Water

Water

Water

Sleep

Chicken Soup

?

Profit/Cured.

Fri, 10/03/2014 - 19:40 | 5286934 Fuku Ben
Fuku Ben's picture

That may be the worst medical advice I've ever seen in my life

But it is still exponentially better advice than the CDC. And better nutritional advice than every Doctor in America based on obesity levels alone

I nominate you to secure the Homeland against this deadly invader. Feel free to declare War on Ebola at your convenience. It's the only thing America hasn't declared war on yet. Which should also be a major red flag that they are using it to kill or further control you

Fri, 10/03/2014 - 18:51 | 5286808 Sizzurp
Sizzurp's picture

I think there are few Dallas apartments that can be had on the cheap.

Fri, 10/03/2014 - 18:56 | 5286818 WayBehind
WayBehind's picture

One may get a good deal on those units and few gallons of CLOROX can surely do some magic. May be a good first cheap place for some of those kids coming over from the south of the border.

Fri, 10/03/2014 - 22:47 | 5287482 Freddie
Freddie's picture

Or Clorox stronger brother pool chlorine. Just have good ventilation.   If you spill Colox on your jeans, they will turn while.  Spill chlorine on you jeans and will eat a hole in the denim or cotton pants too.

Chlorine will kill anything.

Sat, 10/04/2014 - 03:46 | 5287919 SF beatnik
SF beatnik's picture

Say wha? 

You mean liquified Cl?  Cl is a GAS at room temp. Grass green. Does not smell like bleach - though poisonous, it smells like freshly baked bread, actually. 

Try making some.  Electrolysis of distilled water with a pinch of table salt.  

Maybe you mean HCl (hydrochloric acid). Strong, noxious odor. 

Sat, 10/04/2014 - 13:23 | 5288697 cornedmutton
cornedmutton's picture

I do not recommend making Chlorine gas.  Very lethal even at relatively low levels (~30 ppm).

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/idlh/7782505.HTML

Fri, 10/03/2014 - 18:51 | 5286811 besnook
besnook's picture

is this like empty chinese cities? lol

Fri, 10/03/2014 - 22:05 | 5287331 PT
PT's picture

No.  In capitalist USSA there is no waste or inefficiency.  Rent prices will keep going down until all houses and units are rented out and none are left empty.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA ...

Fri, 10/03/2014 - 22:07 | 5287343 PT
PT's picture

If only there were no minimum wage.  Then the homeless people could get jobs building homes for each other.
If only they took on jobs for less pay.  Then they could afford higher rents.

Fri, 10/03/2014 - 18:57 | 5286823 Fuku Ben
Fuku Ben's picture

Good. Overbuild and flood the market. I picked up a few great condos in Florida after the crash for a song. Excellent positive fiat flow.

Fri, 10/03/2014 - 18:58 | 5286830 Colonel Walter ...
Colonel Walter E Kurtz's picture

Many of these apartment complexes ran into trouble in 2008-2009 once the banks started calling any loan they could, because the banks needed cash. Any complex without 90% rented usually puts you into default, if you have a normal mortgage on the property. I have to think all these new complexes are not mortgage free, so I think we will see a repeat when we get the next Lehman moment. The same players who had loans called in 2008-2009 are back at it again, building even more apartments this time around. I have no idea how they can fill up all the units being built in my midwestern town but I do know sone are being built and then sold off the the REIT's and pension funds so that they can then build the next round apartments. This to, shall end.    

Fri, 10/03/2014 - 18:59 | 5286837 LetThemEatRand
LetThemEatRand's picture

I heard that Bernanke had trouble getting his application for an apartment approved.  True story (like all of the others he tells us).  

Sat, 10/04/2014 - 01:12 | 5287813 BrosephStiglitz
BrosephStiglitz's picture

Last ditch PR move.  He/they know the game is up soon.

Fri, 10/03/2014 - 19:02 | 5286844 Drummond
Drummond's picture

Ahhhh some good news.

Or is it?

Fri, 10/03/2014 - 19:03 | 5286853 square wave
square wave's picture

Does this mean there's less poor people? Good. I hate poor people.

Fri, 10/03/2014 - 19:10 | 5286869 miker
miker's picture

This massive apartment builidng across the country is Fed induced.  QE money through Fannie and the banks.  At least this time when the bubble bursts, they'll have something they can use.  Watch it all turn into subsidized/free housing for all of us.

And the developers?  Well they'll get paid.  Moral hazard from the last crisis.  They and the banks know it too; that is why the boom in aparments runs unabated.

Fri, 10/03/2014 - 19:10 | 5286872 AdvancingTime
AdvancingTime's picture

I have owned an apartment complex in the Midwest for many years and we are currently experiencing the largest number of vacancies we have ever had. Many houses in my area are empty or under leased. In 2005 and 2006 prior to the housing collapse many people were looking at second homes, today not only have they shed the extra home many have doubled up with family or friends reducing the need for housing.

I have been busy trying to make sense of the current economy, this is not an easy job. We are pushing on a string and calling it demand when someone who can barely pay the rent is encouraged by the government to buy a house they can neither afford or maintain. We have a shortage of "qualified" buyers and renters. More on this subject in the article below.

 http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2013/12/super-low-interest-rates-disservi...

Sat, 10/04/2014 - 08:42 | 5288131 GetZeeGold
GetZeeGold's picture

 

 

I have been busy trying to make sense of the current economy

 

It's sucks....what's so damn hard about it?

Fri, 10/03/2014 - 19:11 | 5286874 Son of Captain Nemo
Son of Captain Nemo's picture

Not related to this read but related as it alsp pertains to "vacancies"...

Hope Marrott Corporation gets the snot kicked out if it with multiple individual litigation suit(s) on this one!

http://www.blacklistednews.com/Marriott_Fined_%24600%2C000_for_Jamming_G...

Fri, 10/03/2014 - 19:14 | 5286880 Skip
Skip's picture

Not to worry, there will be maybe a BILLION new immigrants over the next few decades so all will be well for the real estate magnates! Mazel Tov!!!

Fired Up Obama to Immigration Activists: ‘No Force on Earth Can Stop Us’

Luis and Victor are two illegal immigrants Obama rode with on his way to the speech.

Fri, 10/03/2014 - 19:15 | 5286886 Spungo
Spungo's picture

The vitamin C thing is interesting because it's still surrounded in mystery. We have some idea of what it does, but not really. We know that most animals produce their own vitamin C, and they produce a lot more of it when injured, sick, or stressed out. Vitamin C flushes out cortisol, so it can have a calming effect during periods of high stress. Vitamin C also seems to be involved in the process of creating or repairing tissue. This is what scurvy is; the body starts falling apart because it can't repair tissue as quickly as tissue wears out. Vitamin C is a potent antioxident, so it actually prevents a lot of neuron damage caused by things like drugs. Drug users swear it prevents MDMA hangover, and studies in animals show that it prevents various types of neuron damage caused by certain drugs.

Vitamins and minerals are analogous to putting gasoline in a car. Filling the tank from 1/2 to full does nothing to improve performance, but going from completely empty to completely full is a huge difference.

Sat, 10/04/2014 - 13:33 | 5288717 cornedmutton
cornedmutton's picture

A lot of animals synthesize Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) and therefore do not require ingestion.  For example, dogs do this.  As such they do not need to consume Vitamin C like humans.

 

The story goes, and I can't back this up but have read it on many occasion, that there was a genetic mutation thousands of years ago in humans that now prevents all of mankind for properly synthesizing Vitamin C.  As a result, we now must seek out food sources to provide this nutrient.  Given that this genetic abnormality affects all humans, it must have been very, very long ago...someone from whom we've all descended...

Fri, 10/03/2014 - 19:45 | 5286896 NihilistZero
NihilistZero's picture

Look at it the positive.  When the inevitable Housing Bubble 2.0 implosion happens perhaps the FED will NOT try to re-inflate it as the lowering of housing costs will offset the raging inflation in food, energy, etc.

You can't eat an iPad, but you can live in a recently foreclosed apartment or house at -30% the previous rent/mortgage.

Fri, 10/03/2014 - 22:21 | 5287397 PT
PT's picture

Optimist.

Without high valuations, billionaires can't borrow any more money and have to admit that they are more Ponzi than business genius.  Banksters and billionaires will NEVER let go of their precious valuations.  They'll turn a blind eye to squatters because it will be too expensive to keep an eye on that many empty homes.  Eventually they'll bring in the bull-dozers so they can
1.  Create scarcity to "justify" prices
2.  Build more homes.

Yes, I know these two points seem to contradict each other but you have to look at the underlying forces at work here.  Builders still have some political power.

Sat, 10/04/2014 - 00:08 | 5287686 NihilistZero
NihilistZero's picture

The USSR failed for a reason.  Just because the billionaire class wants something does not mean they always get it.  There arr also competing interests.  The owners of residential and commercial RE aren't on the same team.  WWhat benefits one hurts the other.

Sat, 10/04/2014 - 09:59 | 5288243 RKDS
RKDS's picture

Just because the billionaire class wants something does not mean they always get it.

Wow, you must be new here.

Sat, 10/04/2014 - 10:25 | 5288302 NihilistZero
NihilistZero's picture

No, you are just missing the shades of grey.  The oligarchs are not one big cabal.  You think the MIC and Big Agriculture necessarily have the same interests?  

Fri, 10/03/2014 - 19:52 | 5286955 itstippy
itstippy's picture

Who is going to buy all the single-family 2500 sq. ft. houses they built in Beigeville ten years ago? 

Fri, 10/03/2014 - 22:28 | 5287428 PT
PT's picture

Illegal immigrants who can't speak English and can't spell.
Then the banks can pay the builders.
The taxpayer / printing machine will bail out the banks.
Then the builders will need to build more homes (that is how they make money).  They may have to demolish some homes to make way for new ones.
Then the banksters can lend more money.

Long illegal illiterate immigrants.  They will have a lot of "success" because they "work so hard" ... and don't ask any difficult questions.

Fri, 10/03/2014 - 20:17 | 5287016 q99x2
q99x2's picture

This is good news because cable companies and mainstream media will be accessed a lot less by people that decide to pay their cable bills so that they can pay the rent.

Fri, 10/03/2014 - 21:16 | 5287181 yogibear
yogibear's picture

Once Ebola starts getting to work they may be many more vacancies.

Fri, 10/03/2014 - 21:19 | 5287193 10mm
10mm's picture

My plan? I have not one. Plan to keep it that way. However, any motherfucker who THINKS as this shit manifest can roll on by, whens it my turn.

Sat, 10/04/2014 - 12:46 | 5287330 eyesofpelosi
eyesofpelosi's picture

The MSM, it burns, it burns!

Sat, 10/04/2014 - 00:54 | 5287781 ToNYC
ToNYC's picture

The great sucking sound of global nafta payback for the sins of GE-spokesman cowboy reagan.

Sat, 10/04/2014 - 15:50 | 5289059 Emergency Ward
Emergency Ward's picture

I thought the GE boss worked for Obama and NAFTA was a Clinton concoction.

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