No, new Berkeley apartment buildings aren't plagued by vacancies, data show

"A lot of them look vacant, Sherback said. Maybe we're over-building. The idea that there is a large number of empty units among the thousands of new apartments that have been built around Berkeley in recent years comes up every so often in online discussions and public comment periods at city meetings, typically from development critics who oppose efforts to encourage more housing."

"But a new database of vacant units in Berkeley, which offers the most extensive accounting yet of the city's empty housing, doesn't back up the theory. Instead, the data shared by Berkeley's Rent Stabilization Board shows the city did not identify a single unit in any of the larger new apartment complexes that was vacant for at least six months last year, the time period that would trigger a penalty under the Empty Homes Tax voters adopted in 2022."

The Rent Stabilization Board compiled the most extensive database yet of vacant housing in Berkeley. The database found no units in any larger new apartment complexes vacant for six months or more during last year, the threshold that would trigger penalties under the 2022 Empty Homes Tax. Vacancies were concentrated in smaller properties: about two-thirds of empty homes were on parcels with fewer than 10 units. Prominent new developments such as Aquatic Shattuck (78 units, opened 2021) and Parker Place (155 units, completed 2019) were not listed as having long-term vacancies. Year-round 'now leasing' signs do not equal long-term emptiness.

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