Whatcom County apartment vacancy rates up, but shortage looms

"Whatcom County's apartment vacancy rate has been slowly rising in recent years, but that's expected to change as demand starts to outpace supply.

The Washington Apartment Survey puts the vacancy rate for Whatcom County's 14,612 apartment units at 3.5 percent, up from 3.2 percent in March 2009 and 2.1 percent in March 2008. That's still well below the state average apartment vacancy rate of 6.1 percent. The survey was put together by the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at Washington State University. The full report can be viewed at wcrer.wsu.edu."