Posted To: MND NewsWire
As the housing boom ended rents for single-family homes also crashed, going from annual growth of better than 2 percent in late 2007 to -3 percent by the end of 2009. But they began to bounce back long before home sales and prices did so, climbing rapidly into the 4 percent growth range and remaining there for several years. The growth in rents and decreasing rental vacancies spurred a surge in multi-family construction . Housing permits and starts for the sector have frequently been the main drivers of residential construction numbers. At the same time the tide of foreclosures caused many single-family properties to convert to rentals and many former homeowners to become renters as large and small investors stepped in to buy houses out of lender inventories. CoreLogic Deputy Chief Economist…(read more )