US apartment vacancy rate nears record high

(Press TV) -- The national vacancy rate for US apartments in the second quarter has reached its highest in 22 years and could climb further if the financial downturn continues.

The vacancy rate in the second quarter of 2009 mounted to 7.5 percent, the highest since 1987. This shows an increase of 1.4 percentage points from the same period last year, New York-based real estate research firm Reis Inc said Wednesday.

The record high was 7.8 percent in 1986.

"We are reaching that historic high very quickly," said Victor Calanog, director of research at Reis. “Vacancies continued to rise despite what has traditionally been a strong leasing period for apartment properties."

Raising unemployment and decreasing salaries are seen as the main reasons for the reduction of potential renters, while earlier forecasts showed that prospective homebuyers would rent rather that buy as house prices fall. The US jobless rate increased to a 26-year high in June, the government announced last week.