We’ve all seen the numbers - Rents rose 25% between early 2020 and mid-2022 in the U.S. Canada’s average rent hit a record high in June. Americans and Canadians are rent-burdened, and although rents are starting to dip in some regions, there’s still little relief in sight.
Rentals have been a key part of the housing market for decades, but only recently have they garnered the same attention as owned homes. Real estate professionals have typically focused their attention on buying and selling homes. However, with more would-be homebuyers turning to rentals due to affordability and supply issues, multiple listing services and brokerages have started including rentals as a part of their business. And for good reason.
Renting has become a behemoth of an industry, with nearly 40% of U.S. households renting. That number is closer to 60% in key urban markets. For comparison, approximately 33.1% of Canadians were renters in 2022; however, that number is rapidly growing. The number of households who rent grew by over 21% between 2011 and 2021, compared to households who own at 8%. And, even though millennials have shifted from being predominantly renters to becoming a majority of homeowners in the U.S., with a remarkable 52% owning a home, they still constitute a significant portion of the renting population. Moreover, the percentage of Gen Z renters increased by 391% in the last five years to a total of 5.6 million.
But more renters doesn’t necessarily mean better conditions for renting. Canada’s occupancy rate was at its highest since 2001 at 98.1%. Renters struggle to find affordable places, with one in three putting an unaffordable amount of their income toward housing costs. U.S. rental apartment occupancy rates nationally are 94%, and although there are about 48.2 million rental units in the U.S., renters still struggle to answer these simple questions: What’s available, and what’s the price? Driving around a neighborhood spotting “For Rent” signs is still a common apartment-hunting tactic. Reasons for the lack of access to listings or even the existence of them online vary, but what’s clear is the need for a rental repository to increase transparency in the market.
Recognizing this persistent problem at an early stage, Rental Beast launched an unmatched effort to establish a comprehensive nationwide rental listings database. This initiative greatly simplifies the process for agents to locate the ideal property for their tenant clients and results in an extensive database of more than 11 million detailed and accurate listings.
Today's renters are tomorrow's homeowners; however, a concern for many is affordability, and transparency is the first step in achieving it. Rental Beast is an invaluable resource to empower agents and tenants to make well-informed decisions about their living situations, including whether to rent or buy.
To learn more about Rental Beast and how it’s revolutionizing the rental market, visit this webpage.
