Rent increases may be on the way, analysts say
By Steve Kerch
MarketWatch
Published: Saturday, January 15, 2011
ORLANDO, Fla. — Apartment dwellers could be facing double-digit rent increases in the coming years as a shortage of new multifamily units coupled with a rise in prime renter-age households gives landlords clout they haven’t seen since the mid-1990s, development experts said Thursday.
“Demand pressures are building. It’s not bad today because rents have been down the last two years,” said William McLaughlin, an executive vice president with AvalonBay Communities in the Northeast.
“But it feels a lot like 1992, when we were coming out of a deep recession … and we ended up seeing double-digit rent increases after that,” he said. Read the rest of this page »