Posts Tagged ‘renter’

Where Are Rents Headed?

Tuesday, February 14th, 2012

People are delaying the decision to buy a home because they are not sure where prices are headed. If they buy and prices continue to soften, they feel that they will not have purchased at the optimal moment. They reason that, if they sit and wait, they can’t be hurt. This thinking assumes that a non-decision comes without consequence.

The normal retort to this thinking by people bullish on real estate is that prices may soon turn to the positive or that interest rates will start heading upward. Buy now before the cost of buying increases! Today, we want to look at this from a different angle. We want to alert our readers that their housing expense is about to increase if they continue to rent.

Currently, in most parts of the country, buying is less expensive than renting. Plus, purchasers can lock in their housing expense for the next thirty years by buying now. They will get a sensational price and a record low interest rate. What will happen if they continue to rent?

The Alternative to Buying

If a family continues to rent, they are looking at a housing expense which will rise with the market. Rental costs increase by 3% a year historically. But today’s rental market favors the landlord to a greater degree. Below is a graph of how rental prices have increased recently and where they are projected to go over the next few years based on a report from Marcus & Millichap.

 

Bottom Line

Hoping to save by delaying the purchase of a home may result in higher housing costs while you’re waiting, thus achieving the exact opposite result. Check with a local real estate professional to determine the best option for you and your family.

Visit RuhlHomes.com for the most up to date information on the housing market and to search active properties in the surrounding area.

Blog provided by: KCM Blog

Rental Prices Jump 11.6 Percent in 2010

Thursday, January 13th, 2011

 You would think that with the housing crisis in full swing that there would be so many homes available to rent that rental prices would go down. Seeing the recent numbers from HotPads you would be wrong.

The average rental price in 2010 increased by 11.6% during the year.

That is a huge jump on many levels:

  • For families on a fixed income, that extra rent keeps people from spending their money on other things. 
  • New couples that are saving to buy are seeing higher rents that push them that much further from their goal.
  • Meanwhile, there are the families that have lost their homes in foreclosure who are in the rental pool that now are paying the increased rent and squeezing their household budgets that much more.

The one good news out the of report is that with housing prices going down and rental prices going down, the Rent-Buy ratio is shrinking. From a rent to buy ratio in 2009 of 15.66 we are now down to a 12.64 at the end of 2010. That means that when families are looking at the cost of buying versus renting they will be more inclined to buy.

As an industry we need buyers to absorb the inventory we are sitting on. Till that day, housing prices will not firm up on a nationwide level and there will be an increased demand for rental units. It is a market and the equilibrium will need to be re-established after the housing boom so all is not lost.

It is just taking longer than any of us expected…

The rental price increase is a factor of uncertainty in the US economic climate, which has forced a transition from a home buying mentality to one more in favor of renting. The growing number of homes lost to foreclosure in 2010 expanded the number of people seeking to rent, creating a renter surplus.

Further, with the US unemployment rate over 9% throughout 2010 (up from 4% in 2006), low risk housing options became more desirable, a trend which may continue in the coming months.

At the same time, HotPads expects to see foreclosed and long standing for sale properties re-enter the market as rentals, which should expand the rental supply, thereby helping ease rent prices. This represents an interesting contrast to the peak of the housing market in 2006, when rental units were being converted into for-sale condos.

If you are contemplating renting vs. buying Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS would love to help.  We have plenty of buyer resources located on our website; RuhlHomes.com as well as our large group of Real Estate Agents located in 8 Real Estate Markets from the Quad Cities to Cedar Rapids.   Let us help you make this transition easy and worry free.

Keep checking RuhlHomes.com for the most up to date information on the real estate market.

Some statistics and information provided by: The Real Estate Bloggers & HotPads


Copyright © 2013 Ruhl & Ruhl REALTORS. All rights reserved. Disclaimer: All content on this blog is my own opinion and should not be treated as fact or relied upon when purchasing or selling real estate.