Apartment owners and operators are seeing slow down in the economy. The slow down in economy is due to job cuts, lackluster capital markets and increase in operating expenses which is a major cause of worry for the future. One of the reason for slow down in economy is due to job losses. The demand for sales of single family homes is on high even when there is slow down in economy. As the supply has exceeded demand for single family homes the home prices have declined 5 to 20 percent. The ratio of home prices to rents exceeded its long term norm by 50 to 60 percent during the housing boom. There is going to be another 10 to 20 percent of combined rent increases and/or home price decreases before the ratio is back to normal. Since there's lot of uncertainty in the market, many believe that asset values are on the decline. Cap rates will ultimately rise and remain higher, but it's going to take some time.