U.S. apartment vacancies hit 23-year high

Apartment vacancies hit their highest point since 1986, surging in cities from Raleigh, N.C., to Tacoma, Wash., reports the Wall Street Journal.  The U.S. vacancy rate reached 7.8 percent, a 23-year high, according to Reis Inc., a New York real-estate research firm that tracks vacancies and rents in the top 79 U.S. markets.

For landlords, unemployment dampaned the usual summer surge.

In New York City, however, the vacancy rate fell to 2.9 percent in the third quarter from 3 percent in the second as the end of summer brought an influx of tenants signing leases, according to Reis Inc. in a Bloomberg story.