Growing demand for rental homes in the U.S. and a more limited supply of rental housing is causing the cost of renting to continue higher, with the latest figures for August showing 58 straight months of increasing rental costs. In this article from MarketWatch, Jeffry Bartash highlights some of the details from the latest government report.
Americans who rent instead of owning are still on track to experience the biggest increase in housing costs in seven years.
The cost of rent in the United States rose in August for the 58th straight month, with prices up 3.6% in the past year, the government reported Wednesday. That matches the highest year-over-year increase in rent since 2008.
Prices are climbing fastest in big cities where many millennials have flocked to live and work. A surge in hiring over the past few years has also given more Americans the financial means to obtain their own places to live.
Builders have ramped up construction on condos, townhouses and other rental properties, but not enough yet to slow the increase in prices.
Yet for lots of households, housing costs are fairly stable and in many cases much lower compared to five or 10 years ago. Millions of people have refinanced their mortgages to reduce their housing costs or taken advantage of ultra-low interest rates when buying a home.
Even home owners face potentially higher costs each year through increases in property taxes or home insurance. But those increases tend to be smaller and more irregular compared to rental costs.
