WASHINGTON -- With the home ownership rate on the rise, you'd think that occupancy rates at apartments across the land would be falling. But that hasn't been the case.

One reason, of course, is that there are simply more households overall, says Mark Obrinsky, the chief economist and director of research at the National Multi-Housing Council.

Consequently, there is greater demand for rentals as well as owner-occupied dwellings.

According to Obrinsky's read of recently revised Census Bureau data, there may be as many as 400,000 more renters than had been originally counted. At that time, the official count was 14.2 million, which was an increase of 605,000 above the 1989 figure.

So in total, there are now a million more renters than there was a decade ago, which puts their number much closer to a healthy 15 million.

Another reason for the apartment sector's vigor is what's known as the "renters by choice" phenomenon, meaning that people are purposefully selecting tenancy over ownership.

This trend has been well documented, but Obrinsky has some new perspectives on what types of households are choosing to rent rather than to buy.

For one thing, he says 30 percent of all recent movers changed their housing tenure. For another, more households switched from being owners to renters in the last 12 months than the other way around.

Of the recent movers who took up apartment living, 55 percent came from another apartment, an indication -- or perhaps confirmation -- there is considerable movement among renters. But 41 percent came from single-family residences to apartments -- 24 percent from a house they owned and 17 percent from a house they rented.

Why did these families change their living accommodations? Those who were already renting had two main goals, to either be closer to work or school and to take a new job.

These same two reasons were cited by owners moving to rentals, "but (they) were further down the list," says Obrinsky. Their top reasons were to establish their own households or because of a change in their marital situation, either a divorce, marriage or death of a spouse.

The Census Bureau's data also sheds some light on the type of apartments renters consider before making their moves. Only one if five considered all types of units; the rest restricted their search to the types of rentals with which they were already familiar. And more than half confined their hunt to a single neighborhood.

For more articles by Lew Sichelman, please press here.

Published: March 12, 2001

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When Lew Sichelman first started writing about housing in 1969, he was the youngest real estate writer in the country. Now, 37 years later, he's one of the oldest -- and most decorated. He has been rated the top housing columnist in the country by the National Association of Realtors as well as by his peers in the National Association of Real Estate Editors. Indeed, NAREE has recognized his work on numerous occasions. One year - due to his advancing age, he can't recall which one - he earned top honors in the annual NAREE Journalism Contest in three out of the four major writing categories. It was the first time one writer has won so many NAREE awards in a single year. Known for his ability to make even the most difficult topics understandable, Sichelman also has been honored by the National Association of Home Builders and the Mortgage Bankers Association. He began providing in-depth coverage of and consumer-oriented information about housing and housing finance at the Washington Daily News, where he was real estate editor. He held that same position for nine more years at the Washington Star, which purchased the News in 1972. The Star, a so-called "writer's newspaper" which also had the misfortune of being an evening paper, was put out of its misery in 1981, and Sichelman, who had begun self-syndicating his column in 1978, decided to become a full-time columnist. Today, his column, "The Housing Scene," is distributed by United Media to newspapers throughout the country. He also is on the staff of National Mortgage News, an independent newspaper which is considered the bible of the mortgage business. And he writes for numerous other publications, including MarketWatch.com, where he answers readers questions once a week, Sports Illustrated (don't ask), RealtyTimes.com, BigBuilder and others. Sichelman is married, the father of five and grandfather of eleven.