(RoyalPatriot.com )- Home buyers aren’t the only ones struggling in the current housing market. Renters are also struggling to find affordable housing in the current economic climate.
According to the July Apartment List National Rent Report, in the first seven months of the year, rental prices nationwide increased a total of 6.7 percent compared to a 12 percent increase in the first seven months of 2021.
Over the course of 2021, the national median rent increased by a staggering 17.6 percent.
And while this year’s rent increases have cooled slightly compared to 2021, they are still on pace to be much faster than the years preceding 2021.
Rental prices are up month-over-month in 87 of the 100 largest US cities.
The rising rental prices have contributed to the increase in inflation.
The rising rental prices coupled with stagnating wages have been especially hard on younger adults, or Gen Z.
While financial advisors have long suggested that renters should never spend more than 30 percent of their net monthly earnings on rent, the rise in housing costs is making that 30 percent rule all the more difficult to follow.
According to a recent feature at Newsweek, one Gen Z renter in Arlington, Virginia said it is hard to follow the 30 percent rule when it is impossible to find a one-bedroom apartment for less than $2,000 a month.
According to Zumper, the average price for a one-bedroom apartment in Arlington is $2,308 a month.
A Redfin report from June found that the national median price of rent went over $2,000 for the first time.
In December 2020, Bank of America Research predicted that the economic upheaval from the pandemic lockdowns is likely to impact Gen Z’s professional and financial prospects in much the same way the 2009 Great Recession harmed millennials.
