The 268,403-unit Miami-Dade County market was hit hardest at year end with 2,460 net moveouts. Broward had 230 vacancies out of a total 135,761 existing units and saw occupancy dip to 95.5% from 97.8% at year end 2000. Palm Beach, with 68,979 apartments, was the only area showing positive tenant growth with occupancy falling only 1.9 points to 95.4%.

"Just over 5,000 more apartments were vacated than were leased in Dade County during the past 12 months," M/PF research director Greg Willett tells GlobeSt.com. "Despite these (occupancy) declines, average occupancy remained well above the essentially full level in all three South Florida metros."

A total 8,414 new units surfaced in all of South Florida in 2001 with a negative demand of 2,460 units, the worst demand performance since 1993. That scenario is "part of a larger, national trend toward diminished apartment demand," Willett says. "The kind of anemic renter demand that we are seeing in Dade and Broward Counties is not restricted to the South Florida region but is part of an overall economic sluggishness."