Investing in Areas With Rising Rents

Posted on July 21, 2007. Filed under: Equitable Investments, Nationwide Markets, Out of Town Buyers |

Rents are up 2% in both New York and Seattle, where sales have remained strong this year.

However, in many “bubble markets” that once saw new investors quitting their jobs and “flipping properties,” adjustable rate interest mortages are rising, and they are all lowering their rental rates to outcompete each other.

This seems to be the case in Palm Beach, where rents declined 0.5% in the second quarter. “In Florida, so many apartment buildings were converted to condos over the course of the housing boom that there’s now a large shadow inventory, or shadow market [of condos being rented out],” (Source: Business Week; July 18, 2007)

However, if rents keep rising and prices keep falling (and the NAR says the national median existing-home price will slip 1.4% this year, to $218,800), fearful buyers could slowly become bargain hunters. Investors: would you like to see the 10 cities where Business Week says rents are rising the fastest? Click here.

Interested in investing in areas where rents are still low but rising? Business Week Magazing has outlines the biggest metro areas with the lowest rental rates which have rising trends.