Apartment Market Mending, Broker Predicts

ATLANTA-Vacancies are rising and rents are flat in the metro area’s 450,000-unit apartment market but John M. Leonard’s crystal ball is showing a more positive profile for 2004. The vice president and regional manager of Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Brokerage Co.’s local office says better times are coming for all categories of the multifamily sector.

“The region’s key industries will lead the recovery, along with corporate expansions and relocations to the area,” Leonard says in his company’s quarterly apartment market report. “By the second half of 2004, the rental market should show positive signs of improvement as the local economy gains momentum.”

Leonard says local employers are expected to hire 39,000 workers by year end, erasing the job losses recorded in 2001 and 2002. “The hiring trend will continue through 2004 when metro-area companies are forecast to create 69,000 positions,” the M&M executive says. “The majority of the gain is in the professional and business services sector.” But layoffs are expected to continue at some struggling regional firms, he says.