Apartment Vacancy Rate Hits Lowest Level Since 2001

We all know that looking for new apartments is a horrible soul-deadening experience. Just ask Sheepshead Bites editor Ned Berke. Finding a decent new apartment is a maddening, expensive affair that usually ends with you crammed into a closet with three strange roommates who never clean out the drain in the bathtub. The task has proven especially difficult in recent years as the apartment vacancy rate has fallen to the lowest level since 2001, according to a report by WKZO.

Good apartments are always hard to find and with the economy being terrible for a long time now, more people than ever are renting instead of buying. While this has been a boon to those who own the apartment buildings, the bad economy, which has kept wages stagnant, might finally change the equation.

With people unable to keep up with the rate of inflation, landlords might finally be forced to cap their practice of raising rents every year as a matter of practice.

“At some point, you can’t keep pushing these rent increases on since the majority of the tenants, if they’re not getting income gains to keep up with that, it’s just not sustainable,” Reis economist Ryan Severino told WKZO.

As someone who is also looking for an affordable new apartment, writing all those words just made me sad.