Though the number of rental units that remained vacant in Ann Arbor last year was higher than in recent years due to the tough economy, experts and Ann Arbor landlords say they expect the number of vacancies to return to normal in the next year.

Mary Jo Callahan, director of Washtenaw County’s Office of Community Development, said even as tenancy remained high in affordable housing units, the rental vacancies in Ann Arbor rose to notable heights in 2009.

“Rental vacancy was way up, extremely uncharacteristic of a town near several universities,” Callahan said, referencing how those communities are sometimes shielded, in part, from troubles in the state or national economies.

Francis Clark, president of Arch Realty, said students renting homes and apartments through his company were more concerned with cost than in recent years, which lead to vacancies in more units than usual.

“People were a lot more price-sensitive [this past year],” he said. “In other years, where you might have had two people living in a two bedroom unit, this year we saw more than that.”

Clark added that apartment complexes like 4 Eleven Lofts and Zaragon Place offered more housing options to students with bigger budgets, leaving many expensive homes near campus unused.

“This year was different than in past years because we had difficulty getting rid of some of our top locations,” Clark said. “If you were to rank the units on a grading scale from ‘A-E’ we had difficulty getting rid of our ‘A minus’ locations.”

Peter Allen, adjunct faculty at the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute and Ross School of Business, wrote in an e-mail interview that while the last two years have been the worst the local real estate market has seen in the past three decades, he expects the market to turn around in the near future.

Allen, who teaches a course titled “How to Develop a Lively Downtown,” added that many local areas have already begun to see increased rental rates, largely due to their proximity to the University.

“Retail, office and residential vacancies downtown or near downtown are [now] basically near normal and the healthiest in the state,” Allen wrote in an e-mail to The Michigan Daily.

Stacy Greggorio, general manager of 4 Eleven Lofts, wrote in an e-mail interview that though the complex had some trouble leasing its units for 2009, which was its first year in business, she expects occupancy to increase in the next couple of years.

“Students have less fear about making financial decisions than in 2008-09, when everyone was very apprehensive,” she wrote in the e-mail. “As of the end of 2008, we had leased 4 Eleven Lofts to approximately 45 percent for the 2009-10 term, but by the end of 2009 we have already reached 65 percent occupancy for 2010-11.”