Any rent-vs-buy analysis that says renting is a better deal than buying is a misleading analysis for residents in many of today's housing markets.

If you purchased a home a year ago in San Jose, CA you now enjoy a home that's worth at least 20 percent more, according to statistics from the Santa Clara County Association of Realtors.

On the other hand, if you rented a home in the San Jose market and weren't able to "rent-down" to cheaper rental housing, it now costs you an average of 32.4 percent more than it did a year ago, according to M/PF Research’s latest U.S. Apartment Market Report which compared second quarter rents this year with those last year.

The National Multi-Housing Council has been after the media and legislators to tone down rhetoric that says "home ownership" is the key to American success. It says individual circumstances and needs should dictate which type of housing is best and, it says, sometimes renting is a better option.

Too often it's the only option.

In San Francisco, rents rose an average 29.1 percent, according to M/PF. In Oakland, rents soared 23.1 percent. In Washington, D.C, rentals were up 11.3 percent, 9.5 percent in Orange County, CA and so on.

Granted, it is a lot easier to rent a home in these markets than it is to buy a home, but when it's bottom line time, budgeting housing costs for your own home is a dream compared to the nightmare of trying to keep up with escalating rental costs.

Comparing double digit rent inflation with double digit appreciation is not a fair comparison. Renters who don't have the option to buy, renters who are faced with ever increasing rents, and renters who have nothing to show for their "option" but a stack of rent receipts, rest assured, they'd prefer to own their own home.

They don't need to do the math.

Even those who wouldn't be eligible for the mortgage interest tax write off would prefer home ownership to the $1,500 a month average rent in San Jose.

M/PF says apartment owners across much of the nation report the strongest market conditions seen in years.

"An increasing share of households are opting for apartment living as rising home prices and higher interest rates push up the costs of home purchases," M/PF said.

Denver, Dallas/Ft Worth, Los Angeles, Atlanta are feeling the crunch. Demand remains high even in South Florida and Phoenix, markets that typically slump after seasonal renters vacate.

As the nation continues its longest economic expansion on record, demand for apartment housing runs well ahead of new construction nationwide, pushing the nation's occupancy rate to 96 percent in June, M/PF said. Occupancy rates were highest in Newark at 99.9 percent, 99.4 percent in San Jose, 99.2 percent in Middlesex and 98.7 percent in Boston and Oakland.

Other cities are poised to follow.

"In cities where the stock of available apartment units is ample, demand is skyrocketing," said M/PF.

Rent-vs-buy?

Not when renting is the only option.

Published: August 24, 2000

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