CHICAGO-More apartment owners are optimistic about their properties this year, enough to start raising rents, according to a recent survey by credit agency TransUnion. The locally based company released the survey, compiled with 1,252 property managers nationwide, on Friday at the 2011 National Apartment Association Education Conference and Exposition in Las Vegas.
The company surveyed 1,085 small property managers, each with less than 200 units, and 167 large property managers, with more than 200 units. TransUnion performs this survey once a year to check how the managers, and their renters, use the credit services.
Steve Roe, VP of the company’s Rental Screening Business Unit, says that more than two-thirds of all the managers said they are able to easily find tenants in today’s economy, even with raising rents. “Landlords are much more confident of current occupancy levels,” he tells GlobeSt.com. “This is a big change over a couple of years ago, where they had to do anything to fill apartment units.”
Also, about nine out of every 10 respondent said their units were 10% or less vacant, according to the survey results. The trend was strongest with the smallest managers, of which more than 670 managers said they were completely occupied.
There have been numerous reasons given why renting has improved immensely as an asset class, though most agree that foreclosures have forced many into renting. Mike Mauseth, another VP, says about half of the survey respondents said they are seeing an increase in applicants moving to rental units from foreclosed properties.
Mauseth says managers continue to be concerned about attracting profitable and reliable residents due to the foreclosure crisis. “A reliable tenant ensures property managers are both solvent and profitable; conversely, an unreliable tenant can cost property managers thousands of dollars in lost rent and property damages,” he says.
However, Roe says managers are trying to be understanding of people’s total financial situation, and are not just focusing on troubled housing issues. “When owners and managers look at a potential tenant, they may have been underwater with their home, they may still have a good car loan and other credit. It’s going to depend on more than what happened with the home,” he says.
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