All Articles Tagged "rental market"
Cheaper to Buy than Rent These Days
(Huffington Post) — As the national real estate slump deepens, home prices in many cities have crossed a worrisome milestone. It’s cheaper to buy a home than to rent onein 74 percent of the country’s largest 50 cities, according to the real estate site Trulia — findings that confirm the national epidemic of depressed housing prices remains in full swing. Trulia’s research, which compared the median list price and median rent for two-bedroom apartments, condos and townhomes in America’s 50 largest cities, found that renting is more expensive than buying in dozens of markets, particularly in Miami and Las Vegas, as well as Mesa, New Mexico, and Arlington, Texas.
California Town Says No to Section 8
(New York Times) — This city in the high desert, at the far northern edge of the Los Angeles sprawl, is filled with cozy cul-de-sacs, stucco homes, green lawns and gleaming sedans. A three-bedroom house rents for the same price as a small apartment in Los Angeles, 70 miles to the south. So it is hardly shocking that the number of renters here who use the federal Section 8 housing subsidy has more than doubled in the last decade, to roughly 3,500, at a time when housing values have crumbled at the exurban fringe, driving prices even lower. The once-booming town, like hundreds of others at the edge of major metropolitan areas across the country, is also facing stark changes in its demographic mix, going in a few decades from a small, overwhelmingly white city to a much larger, ethnically diverse one where whites make up a third of the population. Fault lines have opened, with some residents worrying that neighborhoods are inundated with crime, and others seeing racism.
Barry: No More Renters in Ward 8!
(Washington City Paper) — Oh, Marion. Despite all his talk about bringing economic development east of the river, Councilmember Marion Barryis planning to introduce legislation tomorrow that would actually forbid new apartment buildings in his ward. It’s a very short bill, stating simply: “No District of Columbia government agency shall issue any permit for the construction of any apartment buildings in Ward 8,” unless they’re already underway. So… why cut apartment buildings, arguably the biggest growth sector in the U.S. construction industry, out of the housing plan for a depressed area?
Too Damn Prophetic: Rent Candidate Says ‘I Told You So’
(Wall Street Journal) — To Manhattan residents smarting from sharp rent increases, the most vocal critic of the city’s apartment market has four little words: “I told you so.” Pure greed is driving city rents out of reach, says Jimmy McMillan, former gubernatorial candidate and colorful founder of the Rent is Too Damn High Party. “You can’t find a place to park, you can’t buy a home for less than a million, and landlords are just getting greedy,” he said in an interview. As “Saturday Night Live” viewers can attest, McMillan, 65 years old, is given to strong pronouncements. He stole the show during last October’s gubernatorial debate, in which he boasted of his karate prowess and claimed that he would not only legalize gay marriage but also let New Yorkers marry a shoe, if their hearts so desired.
NY Leaders Set to Continue NYC Rent Control Talks
(AP) — The state Legislature is set to continue talks on New York City’s rent control laws after agreeing to a temporary extension late Monday. The new deadline for the 1946 law to lapse is midnight Tuesday.
New Movement in Stalled Rent Talks
(Wall Street Journal) — Facing pressure from Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Assembly Democrats to strike a deal to extend the city’s rent laws, a politically influential real-estate group is opening the door to modestly expanding some rent regulations. The board of the Rent Stabilization Association, a group of large and midsize residential landlords, on Friday held a meeting in which the organization agreed to move off of its long-held position that the existing law must be renewed in its current form, people familiar with the matter said. The move by the group is significant because it signals that negotiations on the city’s rent laws, which govern rules for about one million rent-stabilized apartments in New York City, could get under way in earnest, likely starting Monday.
Apartment Construction to Spike in D.C. Area
(Washington Business Journal) — While just 1,800 units will deliver this year in the D.C. area — about 3,600 fewer than last year — a flurry of product is getting ready to flood the market in 2012, according to a forecast from Marcus & Millichap. In the past six months, construction has started on 2,000 rental units, including about 800 units in D.C. An additional 1,400 rental units will break ground in the D.C. area from now until the end of 2011, creating one of the most extensive pipelines in the U.S.
Renters Now Rule in Metro Atlanta
(AJC) — That’s the picture painted by new housing data released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau. From 2000 to 2010 the supply of new housing units outpaced demand by 50 percent in the four largest metro Atlanta counties (Fulton, Gwinnett, DeKalb and Cobb). The result: In those four counties alone, more than 143,000 houses, condos, apartments and other units were vacant in 2010 — and 67,000, or nearly half, were for rent. That’s good news for renters and bad news for landlords and often for neighborhoods. Just ask Edward Nyankori, an Atlanta man who thought he was ahead of the investment game when he purchased a few rental properties eight years ago. That belief was quickly shattered when the economy tanked. ”People are not willing to pay the price I need just to break even, because there are so many other things on the market,” he said.
Does Homeownership Live up to Hype?
(Smart Money) — For generations of Americans,It’s a Wonderful Lifepretty much sums up the benefits of home ownership. George Bailey takes over his father’s savings and loan in Bedford Falls, builds Bailey Park, an idyllic affordable-housing development, and issues mortgages. In the alternative universe where George never lived, there’s no savings and loan or Bailey Park; the townspeople have fallen into debauchery as tenants of the usurious Henry Potter; and quaint Bedford Falls, now renamed Pottersville, is home to sleazy nightclubs and pawnshops. Director Frank Capra’s vision has dominated public policy ever since. Republicans and Democrats have competed to extol home ownership as a sound investment and source of moral virtue, stability and community.
Better Job Outlook Ups Apartment Rents
(USA Today) — Apartment rents are rising at their fastest pace in years as the U.S. economy creates jobs and spurs demand for rental housing. Nationwide, rents started edging up last year after several years of little growth or even declines, market researcher Reis says. It predicts apartment rents will jump 4.3% this year, marking the biggest annual increase in four years. MPF Research, which also monitors apartment rents, expects them to rise more than 5% this year, says Greg Willett, MPF Research vice president. Job growth is driving much of the increase. As more people get jobs, people who doubled up in homes during the recession, especially younger workers, move out on their own, says Ryan Severino, Reis senior economist. Many of those workers are choosing to rent rather than to buy, because of dropping U.S. home values and tight lending standards that make it harder to buy homes, Severino says.
