Although the Pentagon yesterday said housing allowances for members of the military will go up an average of 6.9 percent in 2009, the allowances are dropping slightly on O'ahu, reflecting lowered rent on the civilian market.

An Army sergeant with dependents receiving a posting to Hawai'i in 2009 would receive a $2,043 monthly "basic allowance for housing" payment, compared to $2,114 this year.

The change represents a $71 or 3 percent drop, but the decrease doesn't apply to service members already stationed in Hawai'i as the result of a "rate protection" clause in the housing allowance.

A major in the Army or lieutenant commander in the Navy with dependents this year receives a $3,130 monthly allowance for O'ahu. Next year, that monthly amount will be $3,043 for new arrivals, a decrease of $87.

The increase across the U.S. military comes to an average of about $95 per month for the 950,000 service members expected to draw a total of $17.4 billion in basic allowance for housing, or BAH, in 2009, the Pentagon said.

A military member assigned to permanent duty in the United States who is not furnished government housing is eligible for BAH.

Allowances reflect the costs associated with household rental rates. Generally, rental prices change between 2 and 5 percent annually, with "hot" markets changing 5 to 10 percent, the Pentagon said.

Susan A. Brumbaugh, director of the Defense Department's BAH program, said in some years, rental markets will be very strong in some areas, while in others areas, local rental markets will have a lot of housing available.

"So it changes. It can fluctuate from year to year," she said. "Every year you'll see some (areas) that go down and some that go up, and this was a very typical year."

Average O'ahu apartment rents declined last year for the first time in nine years, according to an analysis in April by local housing market researcher Ricky Cassiday.

The drop was 1 percent, to $1,608 per month last year, from $1,629 a year earlier.

Cassiday at the time said rental rates would drift downward as the economy softened and investors and owners decided it was easier to rent than sell.

The dip provided some relief, Cassiday said, after average rents nearly doubled from $853 per month in 1999 to $1,621 in 2005. Home prices also almost doubled over the same period.

Service members who change duty stations after Jan. 1 will be affected by the new rates for their new locations, the Pentagon said.

Military housing offices from each installation begin collecting data from local rental markets as early as January each year. The offices research current rates for two-bedroom houses, townhouses, and single-family homes.

Typically, rates are higher in larger, more heavily populated metropolitan areas, such as New York City, Chicago and Washington, D.C., the Pentagon said.

Rates in rural areas usually are more stable, and although they may increase to some degree, the rise doesn't have the same impact as in larger cities.