Rent Explosion In The US

in #money7 years ago

Business Insider recently released a list of 17 US cities with the most rapidly rising rents. I’d like to take a quick look at just the top five.

5. Seattle, Washington

Population-713,700
Median yearly income-$80,000
Rent paid in 2017-$9.4 billion
Annual increase in rent-9.4%

4. Portland, Oregon

Population-639,836
Median yearly income-$82,734
Rent paid in 2017-$4.8 billion
Annual increase in rent-6.1%

3. Charlotte, North Carolina

Population-859,452
Median yearly income-$53,274
Rent paid in 2017-$3.3 billion
Annual increase in rent-7.3%

2. Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota

Population-3,866,768
Median yearly income-$46,000
Rent paid in 2017-$5.2 billion
Annual increase in rent-7.6%

1. Las Vegas, Nevada

Population-623,747
Median yearly income-$51,552
Rent paid in 2017-$4.2 billion
Annual increase in rent-7.8%

I don’t have much to say about the why and how of these rent increases. The likely explanation is fundamental supply and demand. The demand for housing is out matching the relatively fixed supply. It’s worth noting that Seattle and Portland both have average incomes that are much higher than the national average, which means maybe these residents aren’t feeling the pain as much as in the other three states mentioned.

Sources:
http://www.businessinsider.com/rent-cost-growth-in-us-cities-2017-12/#1-las-vegas-nevada-17
https://www.seattle.gov/opcd/population-and-demographics
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/data/80000-median-wage-income-gain-in-seattle-far-outpaces-other-cities/
http://www.bestplaces.net/economy/city/north_carolina/charlotte
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minneapolis%E2%80%93Saint_Paul
https://www.forbes.com/places/mn/minneapolis-st-paul/
http://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/las-vegas-population/
http://uspopulation2017.com/population-charlotte-2017.html

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Is that median household income or median individual income? If it's the former, those figures seem a little low.

If wages aren't keeping pace with the home prices, I doubt those home prices are sustainable in the long run. That, or we should expect wages to rise in those areas.

I used a different source for each state but it SHOULD be median household income.

I definitely don't doubt your data, but that does seem low relative to those costs. Why people don't evaluate the cost of living relative to their income is something I don't quite get.

median house prices are up across the board simply because the large mortgage underwriters stopped foreclosing on properties; they removed the lowest-cost assets from the equation, so of course median is up, artificially of course. just wait until the loans go back into default

excelent post

I am intrigued that only one is on the east coast. Thought a place like New York would have made the list.

NYC has rent controlled housing which suppresses statistics (my guess). Washington DC is getting pretty pricey too from what my friends tell me.

San Diego has been seeing prices go up steadily as well. Especially with the bad winter rains of the past few years, landlords are having to do a lot of repairs. Taking that example, any new landlords, those who bought after the crash in 2008, are having to repair their rental properties. This is causing the to raise rent to help cover their costs.

The rent suppression in NYC makes sense - the DC scenario as well.

With the amount of people looking to rent after 2008, I imagine there is a lot of demand and also turnover in rentals.

Anywhere there is a military presence will habe significant renter turnover as servicemen are transferred to new assignments and duty stations.

Very Good info Keep it Up

I'm surprised Austin, TX didn't make that list. My research is purely anecdotal from friends and acquaintances, but the rent in Austin and the surrounding areas seems to be skyrocketing over the past 5 years.