I’m renting this year for the first time since 1992, so I’ve been interested in monitoring rents lately. From what I can gather on craig’s list and the paper, rents are holding steady for houses. Can’t speak to apartments as I have not been looking at them.

I think in this market rents for houses could actually go down. I’ve talked to several sellers who have told me “well if we can’t sell at the price we want we’ll rent it out”. I’ve also looked at a number of homes that have been vacant for many months. All of this leads me to beleive there could be a significant number of rental homes coming on the market in the next year or two.

Rents are going up. The talk is that some of these landlords can not afford to make the payments on these astronomical loans they’ve taken out for investment property and are going to “pass the savings on to the consumer”.http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061021/MONEY/610210303

Rents don’t come down when the occupancy rates are up to 95%, and climbing higher…….
http://www.realfacts.com/7262006.html

Oh and as for craigslist, I suggest you check this website, they use craigslist to monitor how the rental market is.http://sandiego.rentslicer.com/

There was an article in the U-T about this just a few days ago. Rents, on average, are up 3.8% for the county. My personal experience is that the rent went up this year by the same amount that in the previous two years.

If rents continue to increase at 4% – 5% per year, and home prices continue to decline at 8% per year, renting will be about the same as buying in 2 years. This is assuming interest rates stay at about the same as today. Will it be a good time to buy then? Only if home prices level off.

Historically rents rise as property markets fall. Sure we all know people who live for years in a place that rent doesn’t increase, and then when landlord’s see the chance they bail out on the property, leaving the tennants high and dry. Well,I know more that the rents increases more often than not..(So that’s the next to go.)Do you think that landlords don’t recognize that people are renting because they are waiting for the market to tank substancially. It’s pushing up the market already. The Fed noted and is poised to raise interest rates (if rents rise too far affecting inflation), but how far will they let it go? With the astronomical home mortgages it will take years for rents to catch up, or will it?
Check this out posted today:
Sunday, October 22, 2006
O.C. rental rates push up 6.1% in third quarter
Orange County’s largest landlords received average rent hikes of 6.1 percent in the year ended in the third quarter, RealFacts reported last week. The typical rent at a large complex is now $1,494 – up $88 in a year.

The only good news for renters is that is this past quarter’s rise is the slowest annual rate of rent increases on a percentage point basis since the second quarter of 2005.

Why can landlords continue to ask for – and get – these kinds of rate hikes? Few vacant apartments, a byproduct of a healthy job market, and home shoppers remaining skittish.

RealFacts reports that only 3.3 percent of local apartments at large complexes were empty last quarter. That’s down from 4.6 percent in the second quarter and 4 percent a year ago. Industry experts think any vacancy rate under 5 percent is, theoretically, a “sold out” condition.

O.C. rental rates push up 6.1% in third quarter
in the year ended in the third quarter, RealFacts reported last week. The typical rent at a large complex is now $1,494 – up $88 in a year.

I’ll contend that statistic actually shows that rents is falling.

If you consider the fact that the only properties being built at high-end luxury executive resort type properties, with complete health club facilities a 6.1% increase means existing non-resort properties are maintaining their pricing at best.

The raw number is an increase. That’s the nice thing about statistics, they’re like a bikini. A good bikini does magic. And like a bikini, what you don’t openly see is what’s usually really important.

In this case, the raw rent number for large complexes has increased. That’s a given. But, if the increase is only 6.1%, and the large complexes have been massively supplemented by bigger, larger, resort style complexes (think The Village Link Irvine Apartment’s new flagship)

That’s all IAC has built for the last four years are places like that and they are still showing only a 6.1% increase.

THIS WAS ON THIS WEB SITE A FEW MONTHS AGO< It's huge if you wanna read it all.....but here's one section from "powayseller" Rents are up. User Forum Topic Submitted by lindismith on July 11, 2006 - 10:12am. The rents are up in SD - I know because I've been looking for a new place to live, and they've been rising steadily. Can anyone tell me how this is happening when the population is decreasing? Are owners being forced to raise rents because of higher mortgages? Is the Internet allowing owners to more quickly get a snapshot of higher possible rents, so are they just increasing them? Is it just seasonal? ‹ Builders margin? Free Inflection Point Forecasting Model › add new comment | email this forum | printer friendly version | subscribe post Prices go up when demand Submitted by powayseller on July 11, 2006 - 10:33am. Prices go up when demand exceeds supply. The people leaving are homeowners who are selling. We have 30% vacancy in homes for sale, but what is the vacancy rate in rentals? More and more people want to rent, pushing up the price. The rental stock is shrinking, as apartment conversions were made into condos, and rental stock has not been replenished for a long long time. The CPI which is 40% rents, is going up because rents are rising. As housing becomes unaffordable from rising interest rates, people choose renting over buying. This will exacerbate when lending standards tighten next year. A few months ago, I was tossing around the idea of locking in a 2 year lease, and I couldn't figure out whether rents would go up or down. I had a list of arguments on both sides. I ended up signing the 2 year lease. Sounds like it was a lucky decision. I am wondering if you can quantify your search. How much is the increase? Apartments or houses? reply | email this comment You can ignore or decide to think it is unreal, but the position is there.....