Although rental vacancy rates rose ...

Although rental vacancy rates rose through the course of 2002 and the pace of of recent origin household formation stagnated, the number of permits issued for apartment/condominium unit construction held up well. The total number of dollars exhausted on constructing new multifamily buildings was about 10% greater last year than in 2001 a reflection of the larger average size and more upscale nature of the units being added.

between the sides of the first eleven months of 2002 building permits were issued for a total of 299249 units in of recent origin buildings with 5 or more residences--a moderate 1.3% increase over the