It’s getting better all the ti-i-ime! At least, in the 2008 St. Louis apartment rental market… “St. Louis fared better than the nation as a whole,” according to a new survey from RubinBrown, an accounting and business consulting firm with offices in Clayton (as reported in the Post Dispatch by Tim Logan).
“The average rent in market-rate buildings climbed to $769 a month from $715 last year,” according to RubinBrown. Now, that’s good news — almost a 9-percent increase! (The national average was a 2.2-percent increase). St. Louis also saw a 1.1-percent increase in occupancies (from 86.2 to 87.3). Whoohoo!
At our Anniversary party, several managers told me their occupancies were highest (low 90′s) at the end of August, and have been steadily declining ever since. Biggest reason: job loss. St. Louis has 9.5 percent unemployment, versus 9.8 percent reported nationally in September.
So, while it appears St. Louis is faring better than most, renting apartments is still an uphill battle. Increased rents put in place last summer will hopefully offset incentives necessary to attract new residents this winter.
In the meantime, “…apartment owners and managers (are) focused on trimming overhead and cutting payroll costs,” concluded Brian Keller of RubinBrown. C’mon, summer of 2010 — time for the tide to turn positively and permanently for the St. Louis apartment industry.
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Tags: Apartments for Rent, Brentwood, Central West End, Clayton, Creve Coeur
