By Amy Sienicki
 
October 13, 2009
 
MEDFORD, Ore. - The apartment vacancy rate in the United States hit 7.8-percent for the third quarter of 2008, the highest it's been in 23 years, according to a national report released this month from the real estate research firm Reis.
 
However, many apartment complexes in Southern Oregon report they are doing better than the national average. Most report being about 95-percent full, which managers say is the national standard.
 
"We have 136 apartments, and as of today, were down to only having four vacant, but we do have a few more people moving out," Poplar Village Apartments Manager T.C. Clay said.
 
Clay says at one point this summer 17 apartments sat empty.
 
"Mostly it's because of people losing jobs. Or, families in distress, someone else in the family's lost a job, so they're moving in with them, so they're helping them with rent," Clay said.
 
"We lost quite a few apartments in July and August due to layoffs. So I saw a trend of people going back to their families or getting roommates and grouping up. So we did lose about 10 apartments in less than a week," said Valley Pines Apartments Manager Tammy Mills.
 
Valley Pines is now 95-percent full.
 
"You're never out of the woods. You never know. Any day now I could get six or seven notices because I don't know, in regards to employment, what is going on out there, who's laying off and who's picking up," Mills said.