Despite construction of new apartment buildings, the rental vacancy rate in the city of Davis dropped to 0.3 percent this fall, according to a survey conducted by the University of California, Davis. The apartment vacancy rate was the lowest in at least a decade and less than half the 0.7 percent rate in fall 1998. Yet, the survey found that, even with the apartment shortage, average rents rose just 3.51 percent. Only 6.4 percent of apartments had their rent increased by more than 4 percent. "I'm very pleased with Davis apartment owners and managers," said Patricia Kearney, executive director of student housing at UC Davis. "In a very tight housing market, they have behaved with great fairness and integrity, keeping their rents close to inflation." The UC Davis Student Housing Office surveyed 161 apartment complexes in October and November. Out of a total of 7,981 units, just 25 were vacant. University officials speculated that students may be competing more for apartments with people who move to Davis and commute to jobs in the Sacramento area. Five apartment complexes were built over the past year in the city of Davis, adding 382 units that university officials said should have easily handled growing numbers of students. UC Davis had a total of 25,092 undergraduate, graduate and professional students in fall 1999, an increase of 607 students from the previous fall. By university estimates of an average 2.6 students per apartment, the new units could have accommodated up to 993 students, Kearney said. UC Davis expects to have room to house another 960 to 1,060 students on campus by next fall, when enrollments are projected to grow by 897 students to 25,989. By then, a new apartment complex is scheduled to open; an existing apartment building closed for seismic renovations is scheduled to reopen; and a 2-year-old apartment complex used temporarily as a freshmen residence hall will open to continuing students. Both university and city officials said they would work together on other measures to alleviate the housing crunch. "We need to work creatively with UC Davis and apartment providers to ensure we can meet student housing needs into the future," said Davis City Manager John Meyer.