by Calculated Risk on 2/23/2010 12:57:00 PM

Here is an audio interview from Jon Lansner: Scott Monroe of South Coast Apartment Association visits Jon Lansner of the OC Register

"Rents are down and vacancies are up. Demand is off, and we attribute really to to the fact that here has been a pretty significant erosion of jobs in the Orange County markets. And it is having a trickle down effect. In addition to that, our members are saying that they are competing quite a bit with what historically has not been a competitor for us - that's the gray market or the shadow market - which are condominium rentals and single family home rentals and things of that nature. There is just a lot of product on the market."
Scott Monroe, Pres. of South Coast Apartment Association

Monroe says they are seeing much more multi-generational housing, and he expects "doubling up" to last for another 12 months or so.

And this brings up a key point - the supply of rental units has been surging:

Click on graph for larger image in new window.

This graph shows the number of occupied (blue) and vacant (red) rental units in the U.S. (Source: Census Bureau).

The total number of rental units (red and blue) bottomed in Q2 2004, and started climbing again. Since Q2 2004, there have been over 4.7 million units added to the rental inventory.

Note: please see caution on using this data - this number might be a little too high, but the concepts are the same even with a lower increase.

This increase in units has more than offset the recent strong migration from ownership to renting, so the rental vacancy rate is now at 10.7% and the apartment vacancy rate is at a record high.

Where did these approximately 4.7 million rental units come from?

The Census Bureau's Housing Units Completed, by Intent and Design shows 1.1 million units completed as 'built for rent' since Q2 2004. This means that another 3.6 million or so rental units came mostly from conversions from ownership to rentals.

These could be investors buying REOs for cash flow, condo "reconversions", builders changing the intent of new construction (started as condos but became rentals), flippers becoming landlords, or homeowners renting their previous homes instead of selling.

As Scott Monroe noted, this huge surge in rental supply - what he calls the "gray or shadow market" - has pushed down rents, and pushed the rental vacancy rate to record levels. Yes, people are doubling up with friends and family during the recession, and some renters are now buying again, but the main reason for the record vacancy rate is the surge in supply. Eventually many of these "gray market" rentals will be sold as homes again - keeping the existing home supply elevated for years.