Pierce, Thurston apartment vacancies down as rents increase

Now that vacancy rates are touching record lows and monthly rents reaching record highs for apartments with 50 or more units, expect developers to start focusing on Pierce, Thurston and Kitsap counties.

That’s the message from Tom Cain at Apartment Insights, a Seattle real estate market research firm, as outlined in a second-quarter report.

“We anticipate that with the rapidly rising rent levels and very low vacancy rates, more developers will be taking notice of Pierce, Kitsap and Thurston counties,” the firm said in a release this week.

Among the data:

▪  In Pierce, Thurston and Kitsap counties in the second quarter, the vacancy rate settled at 3.32 percent, down from 3.97 percent recorded the quarter before.

▪  The vacancy rate in Pierce County, 3.34 percent, dropped from 4.14 percent the previous quarter.

▪  Fife and Puyallup showed the lowest vacancy rate in the county, at 3 percent.

▪  Thurston County marked the second quarter with the vacancy rate declining from 3.08 percent the quarter before to 2.82 percent.

▪  Lacey was the strongest submarket in Thurston County with a vacancy rate of 2.65 percent.

▪  5 percent of properties in the three-county area were offering incentives to attract clients. That’s down from 9 percent the quarter before.

▪  Average rents in Pierce County rose $41 to $1,049 per month, or $1.22 per square foot.

▪  Average rents in Thurston County rose $45 to $1,016 per month, or $1.19 per square foot.

▪  There are 1,464 units under construction in the three-county region, with the majority in Pierce County. Another 1,315 units have completed the design and permitting process, and another 3,219 units are in the earliest planning stages.

▪  In King County, developers are constructing 22,300 units.

This story was originally published July 12, 2016 at 12:26 PM with the headline "Pierce, Thurston apartment vacancies down as rents increase."