Fly to let landlords with apartments in the US would be wise to warm to the domestic market as the country is seeing a surge in rentals.

Mounting foreclosures are reducing homeownership and an improving job market for young adults is encouraging them to find their own places to live. The number of occupied apartments increased by 215,000 in the 64 largest US markets in the first half, according to new statistics from MPF Research.

That is almost double the units added in all of 2009 and the most since the firm began tracking the data in 1992.

And the vacancy rate declined to 6.6 percent last month from 8.2 percent in December. “Demand is pretty stunningly strong in the first half,” said Greg Willett, a vice president at the Carrollton, a Texas-based apartment-industry research firm.

The economy’s recovery from the worst recession since the 1930s has revived the job market, stimulating demand for apartments.

However the growth has not been enough to prevent more home foreclosures, which lift rental demand, or to lead to a sustained rebound in home buying.

New jobs are the biggest driver of apartment occupancy. Employers began hiring again in January, adding an average of 147,000 jobs a month through June, according to the Labor Department.

Employment for people 20 to 29 years old, which is a key group for landlords, rose in May and June on a year-over-year basis for the first time since the end of 2007.

Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics Inc. in Pennsylvania, said: “Given how hard it is for families to live together for very long, they moved out as soon as they got a job or even thought they could find one.”

“As homeownership continues to decline, people need to live somewhere,” added Henry Cisneros, executive chairman of CityView, a real estate investment firm in Los Angeles. The rate of new-home sales last month was the second lowest on record, behind May, following the expiration of a government tax credit for homebuyers, the Commerce Department has reported.

Cisneros added: “The rental market will be robust for the next few years.”

Effective rents, or what tenants pay after concessions or breaks from landlords, increased 1.4 percent in the biggest markets in the first half, according to MPF Research.

Rents may rise four to six percent in both 2011 and 2012, compared with a gain of about two percent this year.

• Brazilian property is continuing to be a success story, according to a new report. The guide, written by Property-Abroad.com says that thanks to its relatively short recession, the Brazilian market has been able to go from strength to strength.

It also claims the way the South American country absorbed the global economic crisis means it is now one of the hottest emerging markets in the world.

“The middle class is growing rapidly and there is a real shortage of affordable housing,” it states. “Now, savvy investors from around the world are snapping up low cost properties and filling this void.

“Joined by thousands more buying holiday homes at massively reduced prices, also with investment potential as Brazil's prestige grows.”

Recently Ruban Selvanayagam, from the Brazil Real Estate/Land Investment Guide, said that after an extended period ‘sitting in the shadows’, Latin America's largest country is presenting a number of economic characteristics which is showing how it can grow, providing excellent opportunities for property investors.

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