Local rental rates have been on the rise lately. While that is great news for landlords, it isn’t so great for their tenants.
In lower Fairfield County, the rental rates have risen about 3% in the past year, and are expected to continue. All signs point to rental demand increasing while the rest of the housing market stays stagnant for the most part. Consider some of the larger developments in Norwalk like Waypointe and 95/7 District. These developments have revised plans to increase more residential rental units and decrease the amount of commercial and retail space they plan on building. They wouldn’t shift resources and space towards residential rentals if they didn’t expect the demand to increase (and ultimately their cash flow).
With rental prices increasing, buying a home or condo starts to make more sense. By most accounts the price of housing has just about hit bottom and the monthly payment on a condo or house is less than it would cost to rent a comparable property in many cases. If this trend continues (and rents keep rising) it should help the purchase side of the housing market.
For more info about buy vs. rent affordability, see this article from HousingWire.com: http://www.housingwire.com/article/trulia?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+housingwire%2FuOVI+%28HousingWire%29&utm_content=Google+Reader
For information on local real estate, and to ask Todd any questions, visit www.ToddTurcotte.com
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