This information is according to an analysis of rental properties listed on the website of real estate company Realtor.com. The Associated Press looked at the prices of properties with two or fewer bedrooms from Dec. 2020 to Dec. 2021 in America's 50 largest metro areas.
The analysis found that median rent rose by 19.3 percent within one year. The largest jump occurred in the Miami metropolitan area, where median rent skyrocketed to $2,850, or 49.8 percent higher than the previous year.
Other metro areas that saw spikes of 25 percent or more during the period of the analysis include Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville in Florida, and other Sun Belt metros like San Diego, Memphis Las Vegas and Austin.
Several other metro areas saw a 25 percent or higher increase in median rent prices, including Democrat-controlled Boston, which saw median rents surge by 27 percent. The situation in New England's largest city has gotten so terrible that Boston is close to overtaking liberal San Francisco as the country's second-most expensive rental market.
According to statistics provided by the Census Bureau, rental vacancy rates – the average number of available units in rental properties – have fallen to 5.6 percent, the lowest since 1984. According to Danielle Hale, chief economist for Realtor.com, this contributed to the surge in median rent prices.
"Without a lot of rental vacancy that landlords are accustomed to having, that gives them some pricing power because they're not sitting on empty units that they need to fill," said Hale.
Americans to continue suffering due to runaway inflation
Experts believe a variety of factors are responsible for the surging rental prices, most of these factors are things that Biden's administration can deal with.
Some of these factors include a nationwide housing shortage, the aforementioned extremely low rental vacancy rates and high demand for rental units as many people – especially young adults – prefer rentals and are unwilling to take on the supposed "financial burden" a mortgage would put on them.
Many people who are interested in becoming permanent homeowners by taking on mortgages are running out of luck. The number of available homes for sale in the United States is currently at a record low. According to Realtor.com, America has a shortfall of 5.8 million single-family homes, a 51 percent leap from the end of 2019.
This low supply, coupled with surging demand, is making it more difficult for would-be homeowners to purchase homes. According to real estate brokerage company Redfin, active home listings fell by 29 percent to an all-time low of 438,000. Median home prices jumped by 14 percent year over year to $354,750. Average monthly mortgage payments have also reached an all-time high of $1,877.
The troubles don't end here. The few first-time homebuyers that can either afford to outright buy a home or are looking to get a mortgage have to compete with investors, who often have the resources to get into bidding wars.
According to Redfin, a record 18.2 percent of home purchases in the U.S. made during the third quarter of 2021 were made by businesses or other institutions.
With inflation in January jumping by 7.5 percent from a year earlier, the biggest increase in four decades, economists are concerned about the impact rent increases will have on inflation. The massive jumps in the price of new leases feed into consumer price indexes, which are used to measure inflation and the health of the American economy.
The median cost of rent rose by 0.5 percent from Dec. 2021 to January, according to data from the Department of Labor. This is the single largest increase in rent in 20 years. (Related: Inflation and Biden economic policies forcing more Americans to turn to food banks.)
With runaway inflation ongoing, this situation will likely continue to escalate, meaning millions of American renters will continue to struggle to keep a roof over their heads.
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EPIC FAIL: Biden's first year in office marred by worst annual inflation in four decades.
Despite wage increases, the average US worker lost money in 2021 due to soaring inflation.
Listen to this episode of the "Health Ranger Report," a podcast by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, as he talks about how investing in precious metals like gold and silver is the best tool people have to protect their assets against hyperinflation.
This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.
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