It's well known that Downtown is in a mini housing boom, with nearly a dozen apartment projects under construction or nearing a groundbreaking. That rush in building is driven by a simple reality: Occupancy for market rate Downtown housing is currently around 98%, or effectively full. This has caused rental rates to jump — they increased 6% in 2011 and were projected to rise another 6% in 2012, according to the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate's Casden Multifamily Forecast.
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