SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 6, 2006 - Real Estate Investment Brokerage Company, the nation's largest real estate investment brokerage firm, recently released its National Apartment Research Report for 2006, which indicates the Salt Lake City apartment market will benefit from continued job growth and rising tenant demand.

Also included in the report is the firm's annual National Apartment Index (NAI), a snapshot analysis that ranks 42 apartment markets based on a series of 12-month forward-looking supply and demand indicators. Salt Lake City maintains its position at No. 29 this year.

"This year will mark an important milestone for the Salt Lake City apartment market as fundamentals improve to levels not recorded since before the Olympics," comments Adam P. Christofferson, vice president of and regional manager of the Salt Lake City office. "Strengthening fundamentals are luring buyers from more expensive West Coast markets, which will lead to increased competition and will keep assets appreciating at a steady rate."

Following are some of the most significant aspects of the Salt Lake City Apartment Research Report:

• Tightening market conditions will allow more owners to raise rents and reduce rental incentives.
  
  Asking rents will rise 2.1 percent to $680 per month, while effective rents are expected to increase by 3.9 percent to $649 per month, the highest level on record.
  
  

• Restrained construction and an improving local economy will result in higher net absorption, with vacancy forecast to dip 20 basis points to 6 percent.
  
  Leasing activity is expected to be especially strong in the downtown area, which will push vacancy below 5 percent in Central Salt Lake City.
  
  

• Total employment in Salt Lake City will advance by 2.1 percent or 12,000 jobs by year end.
  
  Employment growth recorded a 3.5 percent gain in 2005.
  
  

• Approximately 1,000 units will be delivered to the market this year, up only slightly from 2005.
  
  Only apartment owners in West Jordan, Midvale/Sandy and Davis County will face new competition this year.
  
  

• The Salt Lake City market will continue to attract buyers from the coastal markets this year. 
  
  Outside of the urban core, value-added investors should also look to the West Jordan and West Valley City submarkets where gross revenue growth will exceed the overall marketplace.