Quote from der_kommissar:
I think this whole "national" rents rising rapidly crap is a ruse designed to try and save what's salvageable of this rapidly eroding "real estate market". Find me an area in this country where the supply of properties on the market is LESS than it was a year ago. Now, add to it hundreds of thousands of new spec properties hitting the market over the next year. Tell me, how do rents rise appreciably with all of that overhang?
I could virtually guarantee that anyone willing to "kick the tires" a bit in any of these heavy supply areas could be renting cheaper than a year ago. But then again, that would take a bit of research and due diligence.
Tallahassee, Florida for one. I count "for rent" signs in the neighborhoods where I have rentals and in areas adjacent that my properties compete with to get a feel for demand before I try to fill a vacancy. There are consistently less signs up now than last year at this time, and way less than 2 years ago. The fact is that there are less for rent signs now than I've ever seen and the college students aren't even back yet.
Consider, that when a 100-unit apartment goes through a condo conversion, 70 of those units will be purchased by small time landlords like me, and maybe 30 will be purchased by new owners. The net result is 30 units off the market that were previously periodically available.
Consider that for the last 2 years, it was not profitable for the small time landlords to buy a new property and rent it out. So many of my peers, with multiple properties elected to sell, putting former rental properties in the hands of owner occupiers, thereby removing them from the rental market. Likewise, although I wanted to add to my position, I could not. The net result is that the pool of small-time landlords like me collectively own less properties that before...because ownership of rental properties was like the exit door at the movie theater...you can get out, but you can't get back in.
There are other factors too...an improving economy giving new workers enough money for a place of their own, and Hurricane Katrina victims, 100,000 of them, displaced with most of them renting.
If you agree with me on these points, then you can see how there is definitely a difference in demand for the smaller houses vs. the larger houses when it comes to purchases. As rents rise, it becomes profitable to purchase small places and rent them, which increases sales. How long to the cross over point? Have we reached it already?
Besides...if you believe the doom and gloomers that say that so many people will lose their houses....where will they live?
SM