Multifamily Occupancy is at 93% but Land Sales Dip as County Clamps Down

ORLANDO-The area’s 137,000 multifamily units are at 93% occupancy but are expected to dip this year and next as land sales for new apartment projects slow to a normal pace from a record 1999 performance, a first-quarter report by the Orlando office of Grubb & Ellis finds. A total 9,000 units were rented in 2000, a new high for the area. The brokerage is projecting a 91.8% occupancy for this year, rising to 92% in 2002.

Land transactions are at a $44 million-per-year level versus a record $67 million in 1999. An Orange County moratorium on new projects braked numerous proposed developments and put many land deals on hold in 2000. The county is holding back building permits on any project proposed for an area where adequate schools and infrastructure aren’t in place.

But the new Grubb & Ellis study suggests multifamily development opportunity still exists in metro Orlando even as the inventory rises by 40% to 137,000 units from 98,000 units in 1995. There are 127,000 units occupied and 10,000 that are vacant.