Renter Households Exceed 38 Million in 2011

Axiometrics reports that while the number of U.S. homeowners has decreased by 2 million since the housing crisis began in 2006, the number of renter household has increased by 4 million during the same time period.  The growth from 2002 to 2011 is even more dramatic, with renter household increasing from approximately 33.5 million to 38.5 million, a jump of over 16%.

According to the article “rent growth has remained strong as compared to the rate of job growth,” over the past few years, as more households choose to rent simply because of the unstable dynamics underlying the current housing market. Potential homeowners fear investing a substantial portion of their net worth into assets that aren’t likely to see a substantial increase in value any time soon—and, in fact, may continue to depreciate over the next 3-to-5 years.

As Dr. Sam Chandan, President and Chief Economist at Chandan Economics, states “Tenant choice involves a complex interaction between the cost and terms of mortgages, the availability of equity for down payments, households’ assessments of relative rental and ownership costs, expectations of future house price changes, and behavioral factors that are critically important, but more difficult to quantify.”

Category: Rental Market News