I think rents will go down a bit eventually as the foreclosures get sucked up by investors and rented out, but we’re early in the process.
As an anecdote, however, I know a guy who’s in charge of managing two large apartment complexes in Imperial Beach (440 units in all) and he says there are 9 vacant units right now and they have been raising rents 4% on renewals and new tenants recently. For now, folks moving out of foreclosed homes and into apartments are outnumbering folks moving into foreclosed rental homes. I suspect that will reverse in 2009 as more foreclosed homes get purchased and rented out.
