Rising rent: Why prices are only going higher
If you rent your house or apartment, you are in a club with over 100 million other Americans. And you may be wondering, why has it become so expensive now to be in that club?
From Seattle to Austin to Tampa, rent is soaring. Finding a place to rent is stressful, for a bunch of different reasons. Rising rent is one of the biggest ways people feel inflation in their daily lives. These cost increases feel unavoidable. People have to live somewhere.
There’s no single reason why rent costs are up. Instead, a clash of factors have made it so that renting a house or apartment — your perfect nest — is more expensive than ever.
Policymakers are under pressure to address rising rents, but the response from Washington has been uneven. So much about housing is also dictated by local laws, which vary in practically every city, county and state.
Housing prices appear to be cooling, but rent is still rising sharply. Economists and housing experts don’t know when or how that will change. And in the meantime, more and more households get priced out of the nests that, until recently, were well within their means.
This series is an examination of some of the most prominent economic themes of the year, explaining to readers their origins and impact during this highly uncertain period. These topics affect the finances of all Americans, and understanding what is happening can make you better prepared for what happens next.
