When numbers start dipping, the carrots, candies and even cash start coming out in front of prospective tenants at some properties.

Free one-month and two-month rent along with partial transportation costs are among the inducements some property owners confirm they are using in a competitive class A and class B Central Florida market that totals 139,368 units.

That market is still growing with new product but not at the pace recorded over the last two years, multifamily researchers find.

For instance, Charles Wayne Consulting Inc., a longtime market monitor from suburban Maitland, FL, puts the occupancy level at 89.3%, down 3.5% from September 2001. Charles Wayne checks the market semi-annually.

But M/PF Research Inc. of Carrollton, TX, which monitors metro areas such as Orlando on a quarterly basis, finds the occupancy mark to be 92.2%, still down from 95.1% in December 2001.

Greg Willett, research director at M/PF, concedes demand is down but doesn't think it's an alarming situation.

"The result is well off the record demand of 2000, but (the current occupancy level) holds basically in line with the apartment absorption norm for 1996 through 1999, a robust (multifamily development) expansion period" in metro Orlando, Willett tells GlobeSt.com.

The occupancy numbers from both researchers should indicate the market is firming up because construction of new product is slowing. But that trend isn't showing up in first-quarter stats.

Charles Wayne finds 5,564 new units under construction, the lowest volume since 5,383 units were coming on line in September 1996. M/PF puts new construction at 6,974 units. The area had been averaging 7,000 new units annually until 9-11 when a construction slowdown began.

"Although Orlando's tourism-dependent economy has weathered the doldrums predicted following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks better than expected, job growth in late 2001 was not strong enough to spur significant new household formation and fill apartments," Willett tells GlobeSt.com.