Posted on 02/21/2022 6:09:44 AM PST by Mr. Mojo
Rents have exploded across the country, causing many to dig deep into their savings, downsize to subpar units or fall behind on payments and risk eviction now that a federal moratorium has ended.
In the 50 largest U.S. metro areas, median rent rose an astounding 19.3% from December 2020 to December 2021, according to a Realtor.com analysis of properties with two or fewer bedrooms. And nowhere was the jump bigger than in the Miami metro area, where the median rent exploded to $2,850, 49.8% higher than the previous year.
Other cities across Florida — Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville — and the Sun Belt destinations of San Diego, Las Vegas, Austin, Texas, and Memphis, Tennessee, all saw spikes of more than 25% during that time period.
Rising rents are an increasing driver of high inflation that has become one of the nation’s top economic problems. Labor Department data, which covers existing rents as well as new listings, shows much smaller increases, but these are also picking up. Rental costs rose 0.5% in January from December, the Labor Department said last week. That may seem small, but it was the biggest increase in 20 years, and will likely accelerate.
Economists worry about the impact of rent increases on inflation because the big jumps in new leases feed into the U.S. consumer price index, which is used to measure inflation.
Inflation jumped 7.5% in January from a year earlier, the biggest increase in four decades. While many economists expect that to decrease as pandemic-disrupted supply chains unravel, rising rents could keep inflation high through the end of the year since housing costs make up one-third of the consumer price index.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
I agree. Never smoking, and only having a drink at Thanksgiving and New Years and a couple of other times a year have saved a lot. Also, my land line has no long distance, and my cell phone is $6.50 a month for 50 minutes for the rare phone calls I make or when I am traveling. Twenty years ago I switched to all compact florescent bulbs in a 4 story house where I rented a couple of rooms out, figure $400 a year saved for 20 years, $8,000. And so on. My one luxury is supplements, started 50 years ago, and at 83 am very healthy and active, with no identified Covid yet.
The government brought this about in so many ways. Printing fake money is always going to increase inflation, but forcing owners to endure rent free renters has a downside. Owners need to get their money back, and they need to protect themselves from the next time government forces them to give free rent for months on end.
what people waste money on isn’t really the issue, it’s that they are and don’t even realize how much such small amounts can add up to change their life.
It could be eating out every day
it could be a couple of diet cokes a day from the vending machine
it could be getting expensive haircuts
it could be your cable TV subscription
it could be something small or something big, but the point is we all waste money in various ways and it impacts us more than most realize.
You show me a single person making more than $30,000 a year who is struggling, and with a little information on their lifestyle I can show you why they are and shouldn’t be.
Yep and many mom and pop landlords have gotten out of the business (aka sold to owner-occupants or big investors) due to the endless eviction moratoriums and government interference in their business which represents a taking; AKA war on private property rights.
Now with New York State (Demonrat super majority) going to de facto rent control Statewide due to the so-called good cause eviction regulations, even fewer small landlords, which are the majority of the housing providers, will want to continue in this business thus causing an artificial housing shortage. Supply and demand.
“The major cause driving rental prices in many of these markets are not small rental investors. It is large corporations like Blackrock. Also, smaller REITs like Fundrise.”
And Invitation Homes which is related to Blackrock.
Blackrock may also be fronting for the Chinese government’s investment fund.
American home buyers are now competing with investment funds that are indifferent to what mortgages or average incomes can support. This is especially true in parts of California, where full cash offers well above asking prices are now common for single family homes.
American home buyers are now competing with investment funds that are indifferent to what mortgages or average incomes can support. This is especially true in parts of California, where full cash offers well above asking prices are now common for single family homes.
It’s true near everywhere now. Chicom money flooded the big coastal cities year ago and now it is moving on to secondary markets. Our trade deficit with China was $400 billion last year. So in effect we are selling the Chicosm the rope they are using to make many Americans renters for life.
“So in effect we are selling the Chicoms the rope they are using to make many Americans renters for life.”
Exactly. This is just the “American variation” of what China has been doing in the 3rd world where it makes loans to countries. It’s a very bad policy for average America.
City planning is a nightmare in the US. No one seems to want greater density, so the only alternative is sprawl, which creates its own problems with the amount of road surface, sewers, water lines, etc to be built and maintained vs the amount of tax money to pay for them. To help pay for them cities become addicted to developer money which leads to more sprawl, more infrastructure to build and maintain, and on and on.
This all on Biden and democraps. All of it.
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