Pittsburgh rental market squeezed

When Brandon Carson decided to accept a scholarship to CarnegieMellon University last year, the Atlanta resident started checkingthe Internet for apartments in Pittsburgh with two bedrooms, twobaths.

"Usually what we found in the eight or 10 apartments we checkedwere two bedrooms, one bath, or two bedrooms with a bath and a half.I was in one apartment, which wasn't exactly what I wanted, when Ipicked up a local publication listing apartments available in theregion," he said.

The building that caught his eye was Highland Plaza in Shadyside,which is where he and his roommate decided to locate.

Carson didn't have the kind of trouble finding an apartment thatthe National Association of Realtors said he should.

In a report issued Wednesday, the trade group for real estateagents nationwide said the Pittsburgh apartment market is thetightest in the nation.

It pegged the rental apartment vacancy rate in Pittsburgh andnorthern New Jersey at 2.3 percent in the period including April, Mayand June. Compared to other major cities, in Pittsburgh, "the levelof new supply in the market is not keeping pace with demand," thereport stated.

The national apartment vacancy rate is 5.6 percent during theperiod. And it is expected to rise slightly to 5.8 percent by the endof the year. The trade organization used figures supplied by TorteWheaton Research, a Boston-based division of CB Richard Ellis RealEstate, which has an office in Pittsburgh.

Most area landlords said yesterday they found the figure forPittsburgh hard to believe.

"I believe the vacancy is more in the 7 to 8 percent range, not2.3 percent as reported by the association," said Jerry Speer, apartner in Equity Realty Co. of Squirrel Hill, and 2007 president ofthe local Institute of Real Estate Management. The group consists ofmany of the area's landlords or firms that manage apartments.

"Perhaps the 2.3 percent figure is possible in certain areas ofthe region, such as Squirrel Hill or Shadyside, but not for theentire region," he said.

The 2.3 percent vacancy figure could be correct for certainPittsburgh neighborhoods such as Oakland, Shadyside, Squirrel Hill,South Side and the Friendship area, said Howard Engelberg, a partnerat Prudential Realty Co. which owns or manages more than 5,000 rentalapartments.

"But that percentage is not generally true in the suburban market,except perhaps in the northern area," he said.

Sam Rockwell, owner of Colebrook Management, who serves aspresident of the Apartment Association of Metropolitan Pittsburgh,agreed that the Squirrel Hill-Shadyside areas are tight apartmentmarkets.