As employment in the Albuquerque MSA tumbled 0.5 percent in 2011, reflecting a loss of 1,900 jobs, demand for apartments fell to a four-year low.

Employment in the Charlotte metropolitan area is expected to increase over 2 percent in 2012, forcing occupancy and rent prices to make similar strides.

The Twin Cities is continuing to witness exceptionally low unemployment and vacancy as compared to the rest of the country.

Vacancy is set to decline in Detroit Rock City as the United Auto Workers recently struck a deal with the Big Three that will create 14,000 new jobs through 2014.

Overall vacancy in the Mile-High City is set to hit 4 percent this year, its lowest level since 2000.

The Big Easy witnessed solid economic recovery and population growth in 2011, as 10,500 new jobs were added and the overall population grew by 2 percent.

Fort Carson, a 137,000-acre U.S. Army Base in Colorado Springs, will see the addition of a 2,700-soldier aviation brigade by 2013, raising the total GI population of the base to around 30,000, according to Hendricks & Partners.

The multifamily industry’s vital statistics are presented in the March 2012 issue of Multi-Housing News.

Multifamily sales in the Las Vegas metro area increased by 59.6 percent between the third quarters of 2010 and 2011, this in concurrence with the overall unemployment rate dropping from 15.5 percent to 14.2 percent.

Last year was a very good year for Long Island City, N.Y., which leveraged the rising rents in Manhattan and Brooklyn to attract many first-time residents.