Los Angeles is feeling the full brunt of the economic slowdown more than other metros. Through the first three quarters, rent development stood flat on a trailing three-month basis. This continued through September, while U.S. growth was down 0.1%. On a year-over-year basis, rents were up only 0.2%, 60 basis points below the national figure<\/strong><\/a>. After two years of above-average supply expansion, occupancy in the metro dropped 40 basis points year-over-year through August, to 96.2%, 120 basis points above the U.S. rate.<\/p>\n