Despite high real estate costs in the Sacramento area, landlords across the region are reporting a high number of vacancies. Rental management companies are also reporting rates to be flat over the last year.

It is unclear whether or not the rental inventory in Sacramento is increasing. While there are a number of rental construction projects in the area, there has also recently been a trend of older rental communities converting to condominiums.

What is clear is there are not enough renters to fill the area's surplus rental properties. Vacancies are running at about 10% for most rental communities, and experts have seen an increase in incentives. What they have not seen is an increase in prices for units, in what is becoming a very competitive renter's market.

While not the best news for Sacramento landlords, it looks like low rents could be a great benefit for an area of the Valley quickly losing its status as a real estate bargain. An influx of Bay Area and southern Californians to the ranks of buyers in the Sacramento real estate market have cause home prices to sky rocket over the last few years. Incomes in Sacramento, while showing a healthy average increase per year, are being split between the increases Californians must pay for energy and healthcare, not to mention housing. Relatively low rents may allow working families and low income individuals to remain in the area.

Experts are confident rents will increase and vacancy rates will fall, as Sacramento continues to see a strong job market and the California economy grows. Hopefully, though, residents that depend on affordable rates will not be priced out of Sacramento.