Observers say that landlords continue to have the upper hand here despite a weakening job market and an increasing supply of rentals. "I wouldn't say it's slowed down a lot," said Delores Conway, of the University of Southern California's Lusk Center for Real Estate. "It's still up 5 percent, which is still pretty good." Conway noted that Orange County's job-growth rate has decreased this year. In addition, developers are expected to build 2,200 new apartment units this year, of which 1,200 have been completed. There's also a "shadow market" of vacant houses and condos that are being rented because their owners couldn't sell them, she said. Despite that, vacancies fell to 4.3 percent last quarter, the lowest vacancy rate in a year, RealFacts said. There also are more renters this year, observers say, because many would-be homebuyers can't get loans and because other homeowners are losing their homes to foreclosure.
October 18, 2007