Apartment Vacancies in San Diego Steady at 6.1%

The residential vacancy rate in San Diego County has stabilized at 6.1%, the highest level in more than five years, according to a survey of members of the San Diego Apartment Assn.

(However, according to the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, the October, 1985, overall apartment vacancy rate for San Diego County, including the city of San Diego, was 2.5%. The apartment association reported that the comparable combined vacancy rate was 4.7%.)

The association considers the relatively high level of vacancies--about twice that of Los Angeles County--to be “very positive” for renters.

In contrast to the county, the vacancy rate for apartments and other rental units in the city of San Diego dropped from 4.7% to 2.7%.

Elsewhere in the county, vacancy rates ranged from a low of 0.5% in Del Mar to a high of 9.6% in Escondido, according to D. J. Ryan, executive director of the association. The group has been conducting the fall vacancy rate survey since 1959. It added a spring survey in 1979.

“There is still a strong feeling of optimism in the rental industry as evidenced by the high number of building permits issued in 1984,” Ryan said. “Construction of apartments is still booming.”