'For rent signs are everywhere.' Uptown houses empty after new Tulane housing policy.

In the month since Tulane University students returned — and a new school policy started that requires them to live on campus for their first three years — nearby residents say long-standing problems caused by off-campus student housing have improved, from parking shortages to late-night noise and overcrowded rentals.

But the housing policy has created a new challenge for the neighborhood: an oversupply of apartments that is leaving hundreds of units vacant and, some say, driving down prices.

“Driving around the neighborhood, I can tell you the ‘for rent’ signs are everywhere,” said Alex Meyer, a project manager with a construction company who owns three rental properties in the university area. “I’d say there are a couple of every block.”

Meyer’s anecdotal observations, shared by ot