A high-rise apartment building in Kinshicho, Sumida Ward, Tokyo. (Credit: Ward Clark)
Posted on 07/19/2023 9:36:26 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Rents are up nationwide, and that’s a real problem for lots of folks living paycheck-to-paycheck. It’s interesting, as a new article points out, that rents are down in the Austin area while being up in San Jose, when you consider the laws of supply and demand, and the population flows to/from those areas. Now, we see Illinois passing a new law prohibiting landlords from screening their prospective tenants’ immigration status, and you’re liable to see more rent defaults in that state—something that we’ll want to watch for in rental property trends in 2024.
But there is more to it than just the rent amounts increasing.
Rent prices continued their march up for the fourth consecutive month in June since bottoming out in February, according to a report from Rent.com
Prices from May to June grew by more than 1.7% and have increased by more than 3% since April. Over the last year, only March saw greater monthly growth at 2% percent. Monthly price changes have averaged 0.89% growth since February’s low.
The good news: prices remain below last summer’s peak.
The national median rent price is now $2,029, 1.8% less than in August 2022 when rents reached $2,053. By February 2023, rents had declined 6% from the previous high of $1,936. June’s price represents a 5% increase from February and the most expensive price registered since August 2022. Over a two-year period, prices have risen by more than 15% percent nationally, adding over $275 to monthly rent bills.
Rents are, however, going down in some places:
Overall declines in the West were led by Washington, Idaho, Arizona, and Nevada, four of five states to experience the largest rent declines in June. Prices in Washington and Idaho fell by more than 6%, while Arizona decreased by just under 5% and Nevada by slightly more than 3% year over year. Oregon, another Western state, declined by 3%.
Rents in the Southern states of Texas and Oklahoma declined by roughly 4% and 2.5% respectively. In total,14 states saw yearly rent declines in June.
There are a number of possible reasons for this.
First: Granted, correlation is not causation, but look at the states where rents are increasing as opposed to where they are decreasing. Here, from the article, are the top 10 cities with respect to rent increases:
Three of the cities are in California. Of those, San Jose and Los Angeles have rent controls, while San Diego has a strict “just cause eviction” ordinance. Rent controls are easily sold as a price-control measure, but in the real world, they never work as advertised. Add to that a shortage of contractors for upkeep and new construction, and you have a supply problem.
Housing prices, in general, are rising, and that spills over into rental markets, as a fair number of rental properties may otherwise be owned (rental houses, condos, and townhomes). Then as the costs of homes rise, fewer people – especially in this day of ever-rising inflation – are able to come up with the down payments and income levels to purchase a home.
A high-rise apartment building in Kinshicho, Sumida Ward, Tokyo. (Credit: Ward Clark)
The answer, of course, is increased supply.
Speaking as one who has seen a few of the world’s major cities, I can see how most of them deal with affordable housing in congested areas: Vertical filing. It’s difficult and expensive to build high-rise apartment buildings, and zoning ordinances put in place by NIMBY (not in my backyard) city councils aren’t helping.
Deregulation is required; it’s been shown that land-use regulations increase housing prices, not just in single-family homes but in multi-family structures as well. Zoning codes must allow for more high-rise development, and building codes (especially in congested, urban areas) must describe only essential safety requirements. With a few reforms, and a bunch more modern, secure, high-rise apartment buildings in our major cities, we’ll not only see more affordable housing but citizens kept safer against criminals, as well.
I just lost a tenant over a 2.4% rent increase driven solely by property taxes and insurance.
Some people would pizz at a free beer party.
There is a use for all those office buildings that everyone is WFH now: Convert them to apartments. That way the 15 minute city can work, and they can eliminate the residents without much ado.
You know that’s the plan, right? Just ask Kamala, she literally admitted it in a recent speech
Just weld the doors such at the next ALLEGED “public health emergency” in order to “decrease the surplus population”.
That will give Kamalahaha a bit more “clear air” to breathe.
Yup
They’ve converted areas in malls to apartments. Convert some office buildings to apartments.
You chose to be a property owner, your tenant didn’t and doesn’t feel that he has to carry your burden. Deal with it.
What I do not understand is why in one city of 30,000 it cost $1,000.00 or above for a 1-2 bedroom apartment with only water included, while 30 miles away and the same distance from Milwaukee one can get the same type of apartment for $700.00. Some of these high rents are for 20-30+ year old units that still have the same linoleum or tile floor that was present when it was built.
Here the rentals and home prices are unaffordable because airbnb is a smart passive income if you got in early. Touristy western NC.
Rents are high because most people that rent are Democrats.
They vote and advocate for BS laws that make them feel good but have a cost they don’t even to begin to understand.
No nuke plants
No Coal
No ICE vehicles
No drilling
No Fracking
No Dams
No refineries
No Wood burning
No personal transportation
I could go on for the entire Party platform.
I could care less about their problems.
I’m a very fair landlord and I would never rent to a Democrat. I have to support them in tents on the street
it is a good place for them..
My present Tenants pay way below market value.
and they actually have a nicer place to live than I do.
,
And it will go higher the more criminal illegal invaders the Biden occupation allows into the country. I fully expect the occupation to “win” 2024 as absolutely nothing is being done about election integrity which means the occupation will be in power all the way to Jan. 20th 2029. How many criminal foreign invaders will be in the country by then all looking for housing? Rents are going to be insane.
The Demos gave landlords everywhere a new product to sell, “Eviction Moratorium Insurance”. It will be invisibly built into every rent payment until the nation no longer exists.
Yay!
Maybe that just reflects your tenant’s personal financial squeeze (workers have generally been falling behind to inflation every month for years now) and they really need to move to a less expensive place. In that case, I hope that 2.4% was worth it to you.
$700 gets you great proximity to Somalis?
I don’t know, I really am asking.
And never mind, that would be Minneapolis, not Milwaukee. I really shouldn’t post before coffee.
Yea, my property taxes are ridiculous, a luxury car payment every month. Just this year alone our taxes increased by 140p dollars. I pray for a civil war so we can purge the crooks in government that are keeping us poor. Bastards!!!!
1400 dollars, sorry I fat fingered.
And “diversity taxes” are raising rents in the better part of town.
Taxes water insurance heat costs sewerseptic maintenance plowing mowing all higher
Mortgage
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.