One reason why the rent is too damn high

[erronis]

https://popular.info/p/one-reason-why-the-rent-is-too-damn
Rebecca Crosby and Noel Sims -- Popular Information

In the last few years, rents across the United States have skyrocketed. According to a Congressional Research Service analysis of data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, more than 22.7 million renter households, or nearly half, were considered "cost burdened" in 2024, meaning they spent more than 30% of their income on housing costs.

According to a March 2026 report by Zillow, "rents have increased by 36.2%" since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In March, the typical asking rent was $1,910, according to Zillow, meaning that a household would have to earn at least $76,400 a year to be able to comfortably afford it.

Rising rents in the U.S. are a complex problem. But one factor contributing to higher costs for renters is the concentration in ownership. According to a new report by the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, private equity firms now own "at least 11,800 apartment buildings with almost 3 million units," or approximately 13% of apartment units in the U.S.

The number of apartments owned by private equity firms has increased dramatically in recent years. Over 1.3 million apartment units have been acquired by private equity firms since just 2021.

. . .

I know this well - going from an apartment rental to shared housing. And it's still too high to survive.

[Blue Full Moon]

1. The investors that George W Bush jr wanted in the housing market.

[jmbar2]

2. Another reason: Expiration of Low Income Housing Tax Credits

The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) is the nation’s largest source of financing for the development and preservation of affordable rental housing. The program provides tax credits to developers that may cover a portion of their acquisition, construction, and rehabilitation costs. In exchange for these credits, developers must ensure affordability for tenants whose earnings are at or below specific percentages of the area median income (AMI) with rental rates that do not exceed 30% of their gross income.

LIHTC affordability requirements last for 30 years at a minimum. The earliest LIHTC projects are reaching the end of their mandated affordability periods. In addition, many LIHTC property owners are pursuing early exits from LIHTC affordability requirements amid rising market rents. In this article, we examine these trends while evaluating their potential effects on the supply of LIHTC-supported housing.

https://www.chicagofed.org/publications/chicago-fed-letter/2025/514

[leftstreet]

3. Rent Strikes !!

DURec

[Wounded Bear]

4. We have millionaires deciding what affordable housing costs...nt

[ColoringFool]

16. Billionaires.

[Wounded Bear]

18. Same difference...nt

[JPK]

5. Private Equity Firms

They are gobbling up everything they can and just raising prices.

[Attilatheblond]

10. Dear friend is examiner for a land title insurance company. She is HORRIFIED at the % of home sales are going those

And I am pretty sure Tucson rents have gone up a LOT more than what was stated in the report. Investors slap on some paint, hang some new window coverings and then raise rents WAY above what workers can afford. If Tucson didn't have a somewhat decent bus system, working people would be unable to afford to get TO work.

[GiqueCee]

6. Private Equity...

... is a cancer that should be wiped off the face of the Earth by whatever means necessary. No mercy; they won't give you any.
They borrowed their business model from the Mafia. They're no different, and certainly no better than the criminals they emulate; they just have better tailors.

[RANDYWILDMAN]

7. Piling their DEBT on renters

just like they pile it on business they are sinking.

Regulate and get rid of them.

sickening

[GB_RN]

8. But...But...

“The billionaires are the makers!”
Yeah. They’re making JOBS people homeless.

[MichMan]

13. I worked for a manufacturing company that declared bankruptcy after Covid and was bought by private equity group

That allowed the plant to remain open and people to keep their jobs. I retired 4 years ago, and the plant is still open and running.

In your opinion, that should have been prohibited, and instead it should have just shut down and closed?

[ColoringFool]

17. Care to name the manufacturing company? Private Equity Groups are....

not known for altruism or thriving purchases.

[AverageOldGuy]

9. It's not just rent

Wait until you get to be 70, 75, or so and decide to move into a “continuing care community.”

Be prepared to pony up $300,000 to $600,000 to move in AND pay $6,000 to $9,000 per month.

And when you die, good luck to your heirs when they try to get back some of the initial “deposit.” After all, billionaires have expenses, too.

[The Madcap]

12. This makes living and then dying at home

look like a better plan. Even if it's painful.

[ihaveaquestion]

14. It IS expensive, but your numbers are higher than I found when looking for a place for my mother.

First of all, I think you mis-typed the base payment, unless you're talking about buying a condo unit or a home of some sort. To move into a rental unit costs about $3,000 to $8,000 move in fee. This is is usually non-refundable and not nothing, of course.

The monthly payments could be what you state for big cities (NY or Seattle?), but in moderate communities like ours, it could be as low as $1500 to $4000 for "independent living", meaning no personal care provided (basically apartment living).

All these options include housekeeping services, food service and whatever amenities the facility chooses to provide. These range from a free library and sing-alongs to cable TV, swimming pool, exercise rooms, theater, regular concerts and bingo nights, etc.

My mother chose the best place in our area because it has all day food service and a regular menu to choose from along with daily meal specials, whereas most other places had only a few choices of menu at set meal times. It also has a great variety of activities and amenities available (I want to live there actually). It cost her $8000 upfront and she pays just under $4000 a month.

Assisted Living/Memory Care is more expensive, but it's usually paid for by Medicaid when someone's personal funds are exhausted.

This last bit is what I believe will come under attack by this regime. If they find an excuse to cut Medicaid to these people, they will all be sent home to their families. I'm sure they're looking for that excuse and maybe the only thing preventing it right now is the fact that these facilities rely on this money. Cutting it off would bankrupt lots of them.

[aggiesal]

11. I own a rental & I haven't raised my rent in 3 years. ...

I prefer to keep a tenant that continually pays instead of searching for new tenants every year.

[70sEraVet]

19. I quite agree with your logic.

But the property tax on my rental property doubled last year - they doubled the estimated value of the home. Now I'm waiting for the the Homweowners insurance to double, because they'll use the county's estimated value to figure that the replacement value on the home must be doubled too!
It's not just the renters -- everbody is getting squeezed. Except for the big firms who use donation $ to gain sweetheart deals.

[aggiesal]

22. You must live in Texas ...

In California, Property Taxes are only based on the sale price when I originally bought the house.
From year to year, it can not move more than +/- 2% regardless of ghe value of the house.

Otherwise, none of us could afford our house based on the appraised value from year to year.

[70sEraVet]

23. No, I live in Tennessee

But like Texas, we keep electing Republicans into state offices.

[JT45242]

15. Air bnb , vrbo, etc as vulture capital turns housing into vacation rentals

This is a substantial part of the problem as well.

[wiggs]

20. Greed. nt

[pat_k]

21. I'm in a 600 sq ft "affordable" Seattle unit with a base rent of 1,459 that is actually $1,809 with parking and pet fee

I qualify for an MFTE (Multi-Family Tax Exempt) unit -- a Seattle incentive program under which developers offer some percentage (generally 10 or 15%) of their units at capped "affordable rates" in exchange for tax benefits.

My neighbors paying market rates pay $1000 to $1200 more for the same layout.

I feel incredibly lucky, Affordable units are NOT easy to come by for those who qualify. I signed up for "pre-leasing" on a building that was going up in the Green Lake neighborhood and waited 18 months. And I can tell you, I am not going anywhere.

Anyway, in places like Seattle, that "typical asking rent of $1,910" wouldn't get you a studio in a decent location.

On Edit: Here's what AI (Gemini) has to say on the status of private equity ownership in Seattle:

In the Seattle/Tacoma metropolitan area, private equity firms own an estimated 53,452 apartment units, according to a report by the Multifamily Dive tracking multi-family housing. Across Washington state, watchdog data from the Private Equity Stakeholder Project indicates that institutional investors control about 9.2% of all apartment units.

Because private equity firms frequently buy, sell, and consolidate portfolios, a precise unit count restricted solely to the Seattle city limits rather than the broader metro region fluctuates frequently. However, to understand the local presence of these large-scale landlords, consider the following specific data points:

Blackstone: As the largest apartment owner in the United States, Blackstone has a strong footprint in Seattle, having assumed loans or purchased prominent local properties such as the 257-unit Polaris at Lake City, the 306-unit Polaris at Rainier Beach, and the 249-unit Thai Binh apartments, as reported by KING 5 News.

Single-Family Rentals (SFRs): In terms of individual houses, mega-investors who own portfolios of 1,000+ homes own roughly 15,000 houses across Washington

https://www.postalley.org/2025/06/21/who-actually-owns-washington-state-homes/

https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/banning-wall-street-owned-homes-would-have-big-impact-washington-experts-say/FKYGBXAFQJGC7K7M7U6F6HLI7A/

[EdmondDantes_]

24. While this is true, I'm not sure it's the root cause

We haven't built enough housing for our current population. Private equity is buying housing because it's a valuable resource. If we didn't have a lack of housing, they would move to something else.

Granted yes we should get rid of private equity because it doesn't encourage good practices (dumping debt, doing the cheapest thing to make a buck, etc), but would rent be lower if housing was owned by regular large corporations or landlords? Greystar is the largest apartment owner and it's not private equity but had to settle a case for price fixing, as well as RealPage which helped landlords coordinate their rent prices. There's asymmetries of information and need between landlords and renters.

The need is obvious because a large landlord can hold a home empty longer than I am willing to sleep in my car, much less a person with kids or someone needing assistance like an older or disabled person.

But the information difference is important too. How often do you look for a place to live? Once every few years? Landlords do it way more often. They know better what's on the market, what the rates are etc.

If you limit the number of units anyone or company can own, that would solve a lot of that regardless of if the company is private equity or not.

But if we build all the housing we need for today, then we've drastically overbuilt for the future if the projections of a coming population decline are accurate. We could retrofit some office space, but that's more complicated than it appears largely based on plumbing and requirements for windows and such.

But that could be done. If we do decide to build more housing that runs into NIMBYism and that it will detract from a lot of people's equity. We could build in a multipurpose fashion if we address zoning which doesn't seem like a big blocker. Massachusetts and California are trying to force cities to allow multifamily buildings near public transit, but some cities are resisting because their citizens hate the idea. And the option more common in Republican states of building outwards has major issues of people spending time stuck in traffic and physical space limits in a lot of places and lack of public transportation.