I wouldn't expect rent to have fallen in 2008. Thousands of people were losing the homes they owned and becoming renters, sky-rocketing the demand for rental property.
That's right. At the start of the crisis, I had landlords offer crazy incentives - 2 months rent free on a 13 month lease. They just wanted to lock people in. In a few months, when it was clear that people abandoning houses were moving into apartments, these deals disappeared and rents actually started to increase!
That wasn't my experience. I knew several renters who renegotiated their rent down around 2008. We're taking knocking off 10%+. With rent control in SF that's locked in inperpetuity.
10% down is not that much compared to the previous run-up.
Apparently hedge funds scheme to always leave a a fraction of the units empty as a means of pushing against the market.