St.Pete/Gateway Market Summary and concessions

Our research team just completed another market summary, this time for the St. Pete/Gateway submarket. The research was conducted by phone and information was provided via Gateway communities on-site staff between the dates of 4/1/08 - 4/3/08. A few results have been highlighted and are below:

* Average occupancy in the area is reported at 92%.
* 47% of those surveyed are offering concessions.
* Concessions range from one and a half-to two month's free rent, $200 off move-in, and half off security deposit.
* The average rent rate range is $883-$932.

What we found particularly interesting for this area was the 3-5% vacancy rate gap for higher end 'B' and 'A' luxury communities compared to other communities in the area. Another interesting note was the 92% occupancy rate for those apartment communities offering concessions. This stat, along with the 82% occupancy rate for Lakeland communities offering concessions, fall s below each submarkets average occupancy rate. Could this show that offering concessions doesn't drastically improve multifamily housing occupancy in the Tampa Bay area?
Obviously surveying two submarkets isn't a large enough sample size to answer the concession question but it still leaves us wondering to the effectiveness of concessions. Our team is scheduled to do two more market summaries this month, one for West Tampa, and the other for Sarasota and we will look to gather more info on this concession trend.