Russ Valone & Co is anything but an unbiased observer in the SD market. They are bought and paid for by their clients.

Unlike the sales market, rents are closely tied to income. It is counterintuitive that rents would go up in a stable wage market and when vacancies are stable; and that goes double for projecting increases to outpace CPI inflation.

I think it’s disingenuous to lay the apartment vacancy rate on the condo market. Their real problem is that some of the people who earn those average wages that pay for the apartments they’re tracking are leaving town.

However, even if you buy the “condo gambit” there’s still the problem of more units coming online and not enough buyers.