U.S. Apartment Rents and Occupancies Seen Set to Rise

Apartment rents and occupancies are likely to continue to rise as the U.S. home and labor markets remain depressed, economists said at a conference sponsored by investment-advisory firm Bentall Kennedy.

“There are fewer jobs today than 10 years ago,” said Doug Poutasse, head of North American strategy and research at Toronto-based Bentall Kennedy, which oversees $23 billion of real estate assets. “There has been a tremendous demographic shift.”

U.S. apartment vacancies dropped to the lowest in almost three years in the first quarter as the weak homebuying market fueled demand for rentals, according to Reis Inc. (REIS)

An estimated 4 million to 4.5 million people per year in their 20s and early 30s are entering the housing market at a time when 28 percent of American homeowners with mortgages owe more than their houses are worth, Poutasse said yesterday at the conference in Vancouver. So-called echo-boomers desire mobility and see properties with negative equity as a hindrance to selling and moving elsewhere, he said.

“This generation isn’t going to behave the same way with housing,” Poutasse said.

Article written by Hui-Yong Yu for Bloomberg.com
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