Rents move above $1,000 for the first time

This is a pretty big deal: Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services Inc., a national real estate company that has a local office in Southfield, says that effective monthly rent — which is rent less tenant concessions — in metro Detroit will be above $1,000 per month for the first time by the end of this year.

Landlords right now: Pleased. Tenants: Less so.

The increase is being driven by low vacancy rates across the region, the Calabasas, Calif.-based firm said in its annual multifamily forecast for 2019.

Here are the deets: Vacancy is expected to creep slightly upward from 3.3 percent to 3.6 percent, a 30 basis-point bump caused by a 2,000-unit increase in supply. That is a sharp spike (81 percent) from the 1,100 units completed in 2018, per Marcus & Millichap data.

While vacancy is slated to climb a bit, it still remains low. It was 3.8 percent in 2017 ($935/month effective rent) and 4.2 percent in 2016 ($908/month effective rent).