According to The Wall Street Journal, Tacoma is bucking a nationwide trend of swelling apartment inventory. The number of rentals is particularly high in areas, such as Las Vegas and Miami, where the condo market was overbuilt by thousands of units. And where foreclosures are hitting hardest, forcing potential renters into living with family or friends.

In Tacoma, however, vacant units fell by 0.9 percentage point to 5.3 percent -- the biggest drop in the country, according to the WSJ.

A recent report examining Pierce County's rental market by Apartment Insights backs such a drop, saying that the vacancy rate for the fourth quarter was 4.6 percent, down from 5.3 percent in the third quarter. (UP/Fircrest has the lowest vacancy rate in the county at 3.6 percent, according to Apartment Insights.)

The report also says that "the apartment rental market should weather a leveling off period, especially because there is very little new construction to compete with existing properties. Additionally, prospective home buyers will most likely remain in the rental market rather than purchase due to dim prospects for appreciation."

Here's the WSJ story. Look for the Tacoma reference near the bottom:

There's one bright side to the housing crisis: some lower rents.
The regions hardest hit by the housing downturn have seen ailing builders, rising foreclosure rates and a glut of unsold homes, amid other signs of distress. But there are also stories like Laura Evans's.

The 38-year-old elementary-school teacher moved to Stuart, Fla., from Orlando with her husband and baby last fall. Looking for a rental apartment, they were pleasantly surprised: There were plenty of choices at lower-than-expected prices, thanks to the multitude of owners trying to rent units they couldn't sell.

"When we got down here, we shopped and shopped around," says Ms. Evans, who rented a new 2,200-square-foot, three-bedroom townhouse with a pool and a playground for $1,150 per month. The owners allowed the couple to move in with their dog, despite a prohibition against pets.

To be sure, rents have continued to rise steadily in many markets. And the housing downturn means that more people are looking for rentals as well, increasing demand. Many would-be buyers have become renters because they can't get a mortgage in today's tight credit environment, or because they're sitting tight in hopes that prices drop further.

But in the regions hit hardest by the subprime crisis, finding a rental apartment is easier and, in some cases, cheaper than it was before the crunch. Some homeowners forced out by foreclosure are finding rental deals that are at "discounts of 50 percent to 70 percent off what they were paying on their mortgages," says Brenda F. Gerdes, who owns Management Specialists Inc. in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

=> Read more!