A housing unit is a housing unit is a housing unit. When an upscale home is built in Carmel Valley an average of four households will improve their housing situation. The Carmel Valley home may be purchased by someone from Tierrasanta whose home may be purchased by a someone from Clairemont. That home may be purchased by a tenant Mission Valley.
The point of this is Condo Conversions will have no long term impacts on vacancies. When an apartment building is converted to condos, those units are not occupied by Martians. They are typically occupied by apartment dwellers who move in and free up an apartment unit. Yes conversions create a lot of inconvenience for those whose units are converted but it does not create a housing shortage.
I operate 165 apartment units in the North Park University Hts and Normal Hts area. Over the last several years, I have lost many excellent residents who have purchased condo coversions.
In my experience that trend has stabilized and I don’t see that many of my residents moving to purchase their own place.
Vacancies today are noticeably lower than a year ago and obtainable rents are up about 2%. To me obtainable rent is the price at which I would rent a vacant unit.
I do believe that conversions decrease vacancies in the short term. When apartments are coverted there is a period of some months between the time that an apartment tenant vacates and a condo buyer moves in. Considering the number of units in process I would think that number is significant for any given neighborhood. I would love to hear from anyone who can put numbers on how much neighborhood vacancies are impacted.
