Thanks for writing this article. I had been wondering about the topic, especially the vacancy rate, after having been informed that the population of the County declined in 2020 and 2021 from 2019 levels. Could you clarify what makes a unit "partially covered" by MV's rent control? How do the rules for partially covered units differ from fully covered?

Hi Mr. Karney!

Partially covered units of the CSFRA are multifamily units built after 1995 and before 2016. They have the "just cause" eviction protections, but not the rent stabilization protections.

This is interesting data but you really need more data to draw conclusions about trends. You need to know when new units were completed and when they were put on the market. What is shown has new units having a vacancy rate which peaked before the pandemic, being 28% in 2016-2017 and then 15% in 2018-2019 before hitting 28% again in 2019-2020. Leases during 2019-2020 would generally have been signed before the pandemic. Then now the new unit vacancy rate is down to 8% but what does that mean? Companies are only now beginning to return to the office in a more limited fashion (3 days per week) than used to be the case. Has the potential for that happening already reduced vacancies in new units? Maybe it was the rate offered on a lease signed in 2020-2021 the drew people to sign leases. Now that the rate is going up, will they stay? Everything is still evolving but logic says more changes are likely in people's attitudes toward renting expensive new units locally.