America’s rental apartments are historically full, reports Diana Olick at CNBC
The national occupancy rate hit 95.3 percent in May, the highest on record, report Axiometrics, a real estate analytics firm.
With higher occupancy comes higher rents; in May rents grew 5 percent nationally, the fourth straight month at or above that mark. Rent growth was at just 3.6 percent in May 2014, according to Axiometrics.
Apartment demand, which some investors thought would abate as the housing market recovered, is doing just the opposite. It is also coming from both ends of the age scale. Millennials, finally finding jobs and moving out of group or family homes, are pushing rental demand; downsizing baby boomers, many of them soured on homeownership by losses from the housing crash, are doing the same.
