Pinch seen in apartment building

Many fewer apartments will be built this year, the national Apartment Association predicts. The association, which represents builders, owners, and developers of apartment buildings, blames what it calls "disincentives" to builders, developers, and owners of multifamily rental housing.

"We're projecting at least a 25 percent decline in rental completions during 1981," association president Stanley N. Taube said. "Last year an estimated 400 ,000 to 410,000 rental units were completed. This year, we'll be lucky if 310, 000 rental units are completed," he said.

Nationwide, only 5 percent of existing apartments are now vacant," he added. "That is extremely tight, and the anticipated plunge in the number of apartment completions will only exacerbate the situation. Already, we're dangerously close to a devastating shortage of rental housing in many parts of the country."

"Before progress can be made," Mr. Taube said, "a reasonable profit motive must be restored to the apartment industry. Rent increa ses have not kept pace with operating expense increases."