There is a Severe Shortage of Rental Housing at Every Price Point Now
October 08, 2021 | Lynn Pollack
Apartment vacancies hit another historic low in September, declining to 2.7% for a fourth consecutive month of record-breaking lows.
New lease demand in the year ending in September 2021 also increased by 50.5%, with apartment resident retention surging to 58.%, an all-time high, according to data from RealPage.
Lease renewals surged last month, keeping vacancy rates low.
“More new renters than ever are knocking on the front door, but fewer existing renters than ever are leaving out the back door,” said Jay Parsons, deputy chief economist at RealPage. “This is an unprecedented phenomenon that translates to a severe shortage in rental housing availability at every price point and in essentially every city across the country. This is no longer just about supply shortages for low-income households. There’s more demand than supply even at the upper-income levels.”
