Rental vacancies were at 8.7 percent in the 4th quarter of 2012, up slightly from the 3rd quarter’s rate of 8.6 percent, but a definite improvement from a year earlier when the rate was 9.4 percent. As the chart below shows, rental vacancies spent the late 90′s below 8 percent before spending the next decade rising until they hit a peak of 11.1 percent in the 3rd quarter of 2009 and then began falling at a fairly consistent clip to where they are today.


