Housing Watch: Competition for apartments in Central California

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- When an apartment comes on the market in Central California, there's a good amount of competition.

An average of eight renters considering that same space. Properties normally stay on the market for 45 days.

"With the lack of affordable housing, we see the average days vacant is considerably less than what it was two to three months ago," says Doug Ressler, Senior Analyst at Yardi Matrix, which collects data for Rent Cafe

The online apartment search site rates the Central Valley as the 10th most competitive rental market in California.

The study also considered factors such as lease renewal rates and number of applicants.

The Valley showed a very high occupancy rate of 95.4%.

"There are two things going on -- first of all, lack of supply to be able to move to for a renter," Ressler said. "But also, landlords want to be able to keep renters in place because it costs money to to be able to change out people."

In this particular study, the Central Valley also included Bakersfield and Stockton.

Ressler believes the competitiveness of the rental market will soon lead to more attractive offers as people search for that perfect apartment.

"You will begin to see more concessions being offered by landlords to be able to attract and retain renters," he said.

Not surprisingly, three hot spots -- Orange County, San Diego and the Central Coast, topped the list of most competitive apartment markets.

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