Despite a fourth-quarter slowdown in renting activity, the year finished with a 94.6% occupancy, up 0.7% over 1999. Rents rose by 3.4% with the average quoted rent at $798 per month. But they weren't up in all submarkets, according to the report. Competition drove rents down fractionally in the Intown/Midtown area where owners even granted concessions during the year after 1,500 new units were delivered.

In the West DeKalb County/Decatur submarket, however, rents jumped 5% but the occupancy level dipped a point to 95.4%. The best showing was in the Roswell/Alpharetta submarket where 1,600 new units were completed. M/PF, however, doesn't note that market's occupancy level or its asking rent range. Properties under construction this month total 14,950 units in a 20-county region.

"Weaker demand late in the year is not unusual, though the fact that Atlanta's lackluster fourth quarter apartment absorption performance coincided with a reported sharp slowdown in new job production does raise some questions about what lies ahead," M/PF editorial director Greg Willett says in the report.