It’s a Good Time to Be a Landlord
| The once-sizzling housing market may be rapidly cooling, but not all residential property owners are worried — especially if they happen to own apartment buildings. Landlords are enjoying booming times these days as more people are choosing to rent. Apartment vacancy rates are at five-year lows, averaging 5.6 percent nationwide and only 2.9 percent in the New York metropolitan area, according to the latest data from Reis Inc., a research company. Meanwhile, rents are up nearly 4 percent, on average, over last year, the biggest rise in six years, the company said. |
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Fewer people have been eager to buy homes lately, in light of lofty prices and higher mortgage rates. What is more, industry analysts say, the supply of rental units is tighter, partly as the result of the conversion of rental apartments to condominiums at the height of the housing surge. And demand is intense as the children of the baby boomers, sometimes called the “echo boomers,” move out on their own. “The apartment landlords have a lot of room to raise rents even more,” said Louis W. Taylor, a senior real estate analyst at Deutsche Bank Securities, who predicts the industry will continue to thrive in the next 9 to 12 months. (Rents, averaging $1,143 a month for a two-bedroom nationwide, according to Reis, could jump 5 to 9 percent next year, Mr. Taylor said.)
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