Solano apartments among only three rent-growth areas in U.S.

Solano apartments among only three rent-growth areas in U.S.
BY Jeff Quackenbush BUSINESS JOURNAL STAFF REPORTER NORTH BAY
April 23, 2009

Average apartment rents in Solano County barely increased in the first quarter from the end of last year, one of only three markets nationwide to do so, while rents in Marin County dipped 1.5 percent and those in Sonoma and Napa counties barely changed, according to figures released today by a Novato-based research firm.

Solano monthly rent increased by $2 in that period to $1,168, a 0.2 percent rise, according to RealFacts. The firm noted that the only other metropolitan areas to have such an increase in the first quarter were Houston, with a 0.8 percent rise, and Oklahoma City, with a 0.3 percent increase. On an annual basis, 40 percent of the markets RealFacts tracks had rent losses of more than 2 percent.

Average occupancy for the first quarter was 93.9 percent in the county, a decrease of 0.3 percentage points from year-end 2008 and 1.3 points below the rate for the start of last year.

Marin average rent slipped 1.5 percent, or by $26 a month, to $1,678 from the fourth quarter to the first, off from the peak in recent years of $1,709 in the third quarter. Average rents in the county were off just 0.6 percent in Marin from 12 months prior.

The county occupancy rate slipped 1.1 percentage points in the fourth quarter to 94.2 percent in the first quarter, but the change from the beginning of 2008 was only 0.2 percentage points, according to RealFacts. By comparison, Larkspur-based apartment property brokerage NorCal Commercial estimated the Marin occupancy rate to be 95.8 percent at the end of the first quarter.

Sonoma County's average rent slipped $11 a month, or 0.9 percent, to $1,190 and was off by 1.4 percent from a year before, according to RealFacts.

The average occupancy rate was 94.2 percent, 1.1 percentage points lower than the end of last year and a mere 0.2 points under the rate in early 2008. NorCal Commercial estimated county occupancy to be 95 percent in the first quarter.

Napa County's average monthly rent in the first quarter slipped by 1.1 percent to $1,313 from year-end 2008, according to RealFacts. Average rent was 1.5 percent higher than a year ago but lower than the $1,328-a-month average in the third quarter of last year.

The county occupancy rate in the first quarter was 92.8 percent, a 3.6 percentage-point decrease from the fourth quarter and the lowest rate since 90.5 percent in the first quarter of 2007, according to RealFacts.