Salt Lake Posts Lowest Multifamily Occupancy Since 1998

The city's occupancy went from 94.9% at the close of fourth quarter 2001 to 93.4% in the most recent calculations for this year's first quarter. Despite the city's new-found fame, apartment occupancy has not made any strides, concludes RealFacts.

The report references finding from the Salt Lake brokerage house of EquiMark, which says the level represents a long-term trend for the city. An extremely high vacancy rate due to overbuilding in the mid-1980s and corrected itself in the early 1990s as vacancy dropped below 5%. The low vacancy rate stayed in place until 1998, when vacancies again started to spike.

RealFacts questions whether another cycle of overbuilding might start to invade the market. In 2001, 1,005 units delivered and another 1908 units are coming out this year. According to RealFacts' researchers, the new product is probably ill-timed for the existing softness in the market. The average monthly rent remained unchanged in Salt Lake from December 2001, posting at $674 per unit at the end of the first quarter.