The average rent remained unchanged from the previous quarter at $851 per month. Among newer units, rents averaged $1,207 per month, down from $1,223 last quarter, and vacancy was at 13.5%, down from 14.9% last quarter.
An additional 800 units were added to the survey, including such projects as the second phase of Cedric's Landing in Oakdale, MN, The Bluffs at Nine Mile Creek in Eden Prairie, MN, West River Commons in Minneapolis, Stone Creek at Medicine Lake in Plymouth, MN, Blackberry Pointe and Monument Ridge, both in Inver Grove Heights, MN.
"We have found that several communities have chosen to lower rents in advance of winter months, hoping to improve occupancy before the snow flies," says Brent Wittenberg, vice president of GVA Marquette. Concessions of one to two months free rent on a 12-13 month lease is common among upscale communities located in submarkets with relatively high vacancy rates.
In the submarkets, most showed improvement. In Minneapolis, vacancy dropped to 4.9% from 5.8% a year ago. In St. Paul, vacancy declined to 6.5% from 8.2%. The Bloomington market dropped to 4.7% from 5.3%; Roseville was down to 3.5% from 4.2%; and Eagan was down to 5.2% from 8.1%.
Bucking the trend was Eden Prairie, whose vacancy rate rose to 12% from 7.7%.
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