RE: The building boom is in multi unit, not single unit housing. This indicates a strong demand now, and in the foreseeable future in rentals.
Very good observation.
My daughter is a construction loan administrator at the New York Community Bank and she does observe a uptick in multi-unit construction in the last 6 months.
People aren’t ready to buy now, but they’ve got to live somewhere, and the multi-unit housing is the place to go...
Constructors also have the incentive to start building due to historic low interest rates.
My conclusion that this multi-family expansion is mainly due to Section 8 Housing, the name eschewed by the government in favor of ‘housing vouchers’...
It is the modern day replacement for LBJs Great Society aftermath where the government made every local in the country create ‘government housing’ - the projects.
These projects - public housing - have largely been abandoned to more effectively disperse the lowlifes to where worthwhile people live. The tenant pays 25% of their spendable income (not a whole hell of a lot for a loser on EBT, TANF, EITC, WICs, etc. - not taxable and doesn’t count), the government picks up the rest of the rent.
Obama has upped the ante, and just created more public housing, but we can’t call it that...the single family housing recovery IS NOT.
They’re now housing people that cannot own a home AKA renters. There’s even concern about a bubble in rental housing.