Some city officials say they aren’t alarmed by the unusual amount of for-rent signs posted in yards of East Lansing rental properties around town.

The fact that thousands of students are opting to migrate to the Northern Tier might be one reason that rental signs aren’t going away, said Howard Asch, East Lansing’s director of code enforcement and neighborhood conservation.

But, he said, most landlords maintain that they are doing OK as competition stiffens.

“There has been speculation that the competition from the new apartment complexes may actually cause an improvement in the quality of living downtown,” he said, adding that some property owners have been doing more than what is required to improve their rental properties.

“They have been expanding rooms, using better quality materials and installing new amenities,” he said.

Even with the competition, Asch says there still is a market for downtown living.

“Students who want to live downtown will do so,” he said, adding that area is poised to remain popular among students.

City Assessor Robert Johnson said the real effect of the northern apartment complexes has yet to be determined.

“Those complexes are still too new to determine how they will affect downtown rental property,” he said. “Once all the units are built and ready for occupancy at the right time of year, then we will be able to see the real effect they will have on the city.”

But Johnson said there still is something for everyone in East Lansing.

“Some students will want to live closer to campus and have the atmosphere that comes with living in a house, for others it may be that they want the amenities that come with the new apartments,” he said.

Finance sophomore Christina Davis said she jumped at the chance to live in her new Northern Tier apartment.

“I looked at other apartments near campus, and they didn’t appeal to me,” Davis said. “When I came out here I was like, ‘Yeah, this is what I want.’”

Davis and her roommates are the first to live in her apartment in the Village at Chandler Crossings.

“I’m glad we were the first,” she said. “Usually when you move into furnished apartments, the furniture tends to be run down. I wanted to live in something nice and new for a change.”