Buried in one of those “Top US cities for fill-in-the-blank” articles posted on Yahoo! News, was Richmond’s place as number one on the list of highest rental vacancy rates in the country. This article is about “America’s emptiest cities,” and the mention of Richmond is excerpted below:
Still, empty neighborhoods are becoming an increasingly daunting problem across the country. The national rental vacancy rate now stands at 10.1%, up from 9.6% a year ago; homeowner vacancy has edged up from 2.8% to 2.9%. Richmond, Va.’s rental vacancy rate of 23.7% is the worst in America, while Orlando’s 7.4% rate is lousiest on the homeowner side. Detroit and Las Vegas are among the worst offenders by both measures–the Motor City sports vacancy rates of 19.9% for rentals and 4% for homes; Sin City has rates of 16% and 4.7%, respectively. [emphasis added]
Nevertheless, our homeowner vacany rates must be incredibly low because we don’t make it on the top 15 list overall.
Anyone know why our rental vacancies are so high?
**Update- 2/17 12:30 pm. Make sure you read the comments- the story is further explained by readers more knowledgable than I am.
February 16, 2009 at 10:28 pm
That statistic jumped out at me as well. I am having a hard time believing that number, even if it does only refer to large apartment communities. I’ve been trying to find other research to back that up and having a hard time.
February 17, 2009 at 12:43 am
I assume this is Greater Richmond, not simply City of Richmond stats.
February 17, 2009 at 6:24 am
Here’s a direct link to the census data that statistic was taken from-
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/hvs/rates/files/tab4_msa_05_08_rvr.xls
It’s simple: we are overbuilt, overpriced, and in denial of true rental price\demand.
It’s going to be a rocky decade for residential and commercial property here in RVA
February 17, 2009 at 9:57 am
Just as a point of interest -the statistic was for the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area, so I am not sure how much light it sheds on the actual growth potential for the City of Richmond itself. The Richmond Richmond, VA MSA – also known as Richmond-Petersburg includes:
Amelia County
Caroline County
Charles City County
Chesterfield County
Cumberland County
Dinwiddie County
Goochland County
Hanover County
Henrico County
King and Queen County
King William County
Louisa County
New Kent County
Powhatan County
Prince George County
Sussex County
City of Colonial Heights
City of Hopewell
City of Petersburg
City of Richmond
February 17, 2009 at 10:04 am
RichmondBizSense.com wrote about this in a story. Here is the link if you guys want to check it out.
http://www.richmondbizsense.com/2009/02/13/is-richmond-the-worst-residential-rental-market-in-the-country/
February 17, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Thanks all for filling in the gaps in this story. I hadn’t seen the BizSense post on this, or I would have linked to it.
Whether these numbers are real or not, the perception is going to have an effect on building projects in this region, I’d imagine.
February 17, 2009 at 1:00 pm
The BizSense article supports what I was thinking and can testify to: my partner and I own 20+ units and not one has been vacant a single month for the last 3 years. All above-market rents in Richmond city. Maybe what’s influencing these statistics are all the apartment buildings out in the counties? I know Richmond city is pretty strong.
February 18, 2009 at 11:15 am
We all can agree that those numbers are not indicative of the “Urban Richmond” downtown loft\apt rental scene, but I see signs of weakness even in our urban market. More concessions, rent reductions, etc. As for the greater Richmond area, just look on Craigslist the postings in the “for rent” section have moved from about 40 a day to 115 just today.
In the last three months we have lost over 1.8 million jobs in the US, people can’t rent when they aren’t working. I have seen some estimates of US job losses of up to 6 million additional jobs in 2009.
I don’t think anyone can say that it would be a wise move to add rental units in this economy even in urban Richmond.
February 18, 2009 at 5:15 pm
I need to add another perspective here. What about all the rentals that turned into condos? Everytime I turn around, another building in the Fan/Museum is being turned into a condo. It is so frustrating to me because young non-married folk like me are running out of places to rent in the city where they want to live. All the nice and affordable rentals got turned condo. That leaves just the huge houses and the run down apts to rent. The condos are sitting empty for long periods of time bc the people who want to and can afford to buy don’t nec. want to live in the city, and rentals all over the city are very high for what you get.
And please no one chime in with “But rent is much cheaper here than DC/NY!” Of course that’s true when you just look at price, but not so when you look at salaries and other cost of living, which is not at ALL comparable to DC/NY.
February 18, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Holly- I am very interested by your experience! I have always thought it was the opposite situation in Richmond. I was recently looking at a few condos in the Museum District, and months later I hear they have a rental option because they are having such a hard time selling. Now that I want to continue renting, I am so excited to have the chance to move to an apartment that is really an overpriced condo with high end finishes!
February 19, 2009 at 5:25 pm
The data is inaccurate. 4th Quarter 2008 REIS Report indicates apartment vacancy of 6% for the MSA. This article raised a lot of eyebrows within our commercial mortgage firm, however, upon further investigation, determined the report is simply wrong.
February 27, 2009 at 9:28 am
Well now CNBC has picked this up with this article – http://www.cnbc.com/id/29350086?slide=11
April 3, 2009 at 11:40 am
Why do people continue to build these giant condo complexes in Richmond?
Stupid and greedy.
June 13, 2009 at 1:51 pm
i can not agree more with ben morgan
July 18, 2009 at 5:05 pm
any updates coming ?
July 20, 2009 at 4:29 pm
This article was not accurate. We publish an apartment report that covers most of the Richmond area, including the suburbs and in February, we found the vacancy rate to be under 8%, which is much better than most markets in the Southeast. We are an independent apartment market research company. I am working on updating our information for our August report now. You can see vacancy rates for the cities we cover at our website: http://www.aptindex.com. That part is free. The reports are a for sale product. Hope it’s not against the rules to post the link. It’s just sad to see misinformation. I would say the REIS report and ours are much more accurate.
Jenny S.
Apartment Market Analyst
Real Data
August 4, 2009 at 1:03 pm
the “homeowner” vacancy rate should reflect the rental vacancy rate- as many rentals are failed flips that did not sell and are being rented out.
August 4, 2009 at 1:05 pm
oh good, jenny s., because that is what i depend on most. stale statistics from february. i fear that i will not be paying for your outdated reports.
August 4, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Our newest report came out Aug 1st and showed the apartment vacancy rate is still above 90% in the greater Richmond area.
The original article being discussed from Forbes/Census/Yahoo was put out in February, so it would stand to reason that our February data would be what you would compare it with, but we now have new data.
Jenny
August 10, 2009 at 2:43 pm
check the stats again. q2 we went from 26% to 16%. an imporvement of 10%? look at birmingham during the same time period…6% to 25%?!?! these types of statistics do not swing this widely. poorly couonted statistic, plain and simple
February 14, 2010 at 12:20 pm
ever been to the south side of richmond and deep church hill. ever been to the deep north side and around Virginia union?
The article is correct we have zillions of vacant house.
I’m an investor and wouldn’t dream of sinking my money in those infested crap holes.
February 14, 2010 at 1:21 pm
samhalls you are confusing blighted properties with rental vacancies, two different things. The Richmond MSA includes about 20 jurisdictions so you have to look beyond a few marginalized neighborhoods within the city limits to understand the statistic in the report- which is inaccurate anyway.
May 14, 2010 at 1:48 pm
“I’m an investor and wouldn’t dream of sinking my money in those infested crap holes.”
Well there must have been an incentive for all those other people to do it though?
October 25, 2010 at 9:04 am
What is even more perplexing is that we also have an affordable housing issue. When the median home price for greater RVA is $237,000, it forces many average to low income earners to rent vs own. Surprising we have a nation-leading rental vacancy rate considering. Our community service heroes (police, firefighters, teachers, nurses, vetereans) are surely struggling.
February 8, 2012 at 11:40 pm
Yikes! Thanks for this article.
We’re a counseling center, getting ready to move into richmond (and hopefully create some jobs and do some good). We’re going to be needing office space. Any recommendations on the most convenient areas for Richmond residents to get to?
July 16, 2012 at 6:43 am
Just wondering if this article is still relevant today? I know someone who is planning on moving to Richmond!