Rental Prices Are Less Affordable Than Ever #realestate #homeownership

Source:  Bloomberg

While apartment developers have picked up their building pace, bringing more new units to market in 2014 than any year since 2002, an increase in supply can't come fast enough for increasingly cost-burdened renters.  These renters have faced falling vacancy rates, thereby pushing rents higher and forcing households to spend greater shares of their incomes on housing.  Last year, 49 percent of renters paid at least 30 percent of their income on rent, and 26 percent paid at least 50 percent of their income on rent.  And it's not just the poor who are affected:  The number of households that earn more than $75,000 and spend at least 30 percent of their income on rent doubled from 2001 to 2014, a greater increase than for any other group.

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