The apartment vacancy rate in the city of Davis is 1.9 percent for those rented by the unit and 3.5 percent for those rented by the bed, according to a fall survey commissioned by the University of California, Davis, and released today (Tuesday, March 18).

The vacancy- and rental-rate survey, now in its 38th year, is designed to provide the campus and the Davis community with information for planning.

This year’s survey tallied 25 percent more apartments and broke out apartments leased by unit and by bed. BAE Urban Economics, a real estate consulting firm in Davis, conducted the survey, which will now be done every other year.

Vacancy rates

According to the survey, 160 apartments, or 1.9 percent, of 8,206 leased by unit were vacant.

The introduction of units rented out by beds is “one of the more complex dynamics of the local rental housing market,” the report says. Among the 818 units leased by bed, 81, or 3.5 percent, of 2,302 beds were vacant.

Last year, 1.7 percent of about 7,800 units captured in the survey were vacant. During the last 10 years, the apartment vacancy rate in Davis has varied from as low as 0.7 percent in 2007 to as high as 4.2 percent in 2005, according to the 2012 survey.

Rents

The majority of respondents reported static or increasing rents since 2012.

The average rent for unfurnished two-bedroom apartments — which account for 46 percent of apartments leased by unit in the survey — was $1,275.

The average rental rate for bed leases was $825 per month.

Because of the changes in survey methodology, this year's report does not offer a comparison in rental rates or an average rental rate increase.

Methodology

BAE initially surveyed apartment complexes in November and December with follow-up in January. In the end, a total of 126 apartment complexes and property management companies responded.

The survey includes apartments in the city of Davis and privately managed apartments on campus: The Colleges at LaRue, The Atriums, Russell Park and West Village.

The report excludes those apartments that require an income-eligibility test to qualify low-income residents for reduced rent, because students typically are not eligible for these units.

A PDF of the full survey report is available online.