“On the road to recovery” summarizes the current Twin Cities rental market. After several years of stagnant rents and above-market equilibrium vacancy rates, the market is again moving in the right direction. The first quarter vacancy rate this year was 4.4 percent, down from 5.6 percent a year ago. Two years ago, vacancies had climbed to roughly 7.5 percent, considered high for this smaller market. Annualized rent growth for the first quarter of 2007 was 2.4 percent.