​Trending MarketWatch: Single Family Rental Prices Steadily Rising

The CoreLogic Single-Family Rental Index claimed last week that rents for single-family homes jumped 2.9% year over year in March. This is an index that measures changes in rent prices among single-family rental homes, as well as condominiums.

Rent prices for lower-priced homes are rising at a faster rate than those of higher-priced dwellings. These are defined as properties with rents 75% or less than the national average.

The Phoenix area seems to be bearing the brunt of much of this activity: Single-family rents in the city grew by 7.4% in March year-over-year followed by Las Vegas at 6.9%, and Tucson at 6.3%. The trend has predominately been single-family rents climbing steadily for the past nine years. Even though many nationwide have been touting economic recovery, the effects of the recession have loomed, and many are stuck renting because of the credit and down-payment needed for their own property.

Another news headline about this topic was in San Diego, where landlords can currently increase a tenant's rent by any amount when their lease expires, as long as they give the required legal notice. As seen in this could all change swiftly is Assembly Bill 1482 becomes a law. It would effectively ban landlords from increasing rents by more than 5% per year, plus the rate of inflation.

Affordable housing developer Ginger Hitzke made a pretty rousing point when she claimed that her biggest issue is “with those who are buying up existing apartment complexes that have a potential upside for rent. So they go in, throw in a new kitchen, and inflate the price.” She then added, “What value did that really just add to society? You didn't really do anything, you just found an opportunity in the market and exploited it.”

She recognized some other very important points regarding today's world when she pointed out avidly how hard things are if someone is paying out of pocket for living expenses like transportation, food, and medical costs. Of course, the various groups that represent landlords and businesses oppose the bill, saying that it may slow valuable new home construction projects.

Although many feel that the dream of homeownership is out of reach, the truth is just that the playing field has changed drastically. Generally speaking, wages have not risen enough to keep up with inflation, but those who are choosing viable trades and examining the job market closely are still making decisions that enable them to pay off their student loans quicker than the fine-arts majors would.

Solutions are definitely difficult in west coast cities with high population and where land exists at a premium, and some feel that maybe the construction of smaller units would make sense. Many others are presenting the argument that rent control is against the very principles that capitalism leans upon to thrive, and that is also an understandable angle in all of the confusion.

Right now, apartments are definitely in demand. One common scenario we see frequently is after a stressful life event such as a divorce, a time when one's low credit rating drastically affects their buying power, even if they have a stable source of higher-than-average income. There are many scenarios during which living in an apartment makes more sense.

If you are situated in a house now but have approached a point in your life during which apartment living would be better, you may want to have the option to sell your property without weekend showings. You also may not want to iron out details like extended stay reservations, moving trucks, and counteroffers in the competitive market.

Companies such as are very useful if you are thinking about scaling down to an apartment or condo. Even with rent going up, it may make sense to scale down on your square footage with any recent events that have taken place. If you have friends or family members that are ready to put a residential property on the market, they could benefit greatly from a cash offer, and “toning down” of the menial tasks it can take to do so!