The region’s rental market appears to be benefiting from the nationwide housing slump. With fewer folks moving into a place of their own, demand for rentals is high and landlords are reaping the benefits.

More tough times may be on the horizon for the nation’s housing market. But as the credit crunch deepens and mortgage defaults continue to climb, the rental market is breathing new life, thanks to reluctant buyers. “Renting is a good option because it’s a safe haven for people,”said Gene Richards with Champlain Apartments.

The nation’s home ownership rate fell to 67.8 percent in the first quarter, while rental housing vacancies slipped almost half a percentage point. More and more people are waiting to purchase homes content to rent instead.

Fewer homes are on the market and many prospective buyers are waiting for prices to drop even further. “They’re waiting for the deal, and there’s perceived to be a deal out there so they’re going to wait for that,” Richards said.

And that means more and more people are renting, and are paying more to do so. Richards says he typically increases his rent anywhere from three to six percent every year, but some renters say they’re seeing increases well beyond that.

“If you’re just living in one bedroom, I know you can pay up to $1,200 bucks just for a single bedroom downtown,” said Steve Herrick, a Burlington renter.

Herrick will soon be forced to pay more than a hundred dollars more in rent each month. Some renters, especially college students, say that’s more than they can afford. “My roommates are actually moving out at the end of the semester. They’re moving into another house that’s lower rent. They can’t really afford it,” said Chris Webber, another renter.

“Rents are going up as much as the market will let them go up, and they’re somewhat getting capped off right now because the consumer’s not able to pay more,” Richards said.

He says prospective tenants seem to be more concerned about the cost of rent than renters were a few years ago. He fields more questions about utility bills and is no longer surprised when renters expect to see energy efficient features in the apartments. Richards isn’t sure if the housing slump is the main factor influencing prospective renters.

Vermont has not been hit as hard as most other states by the sub-prime housing market, but landlords and renters agree that perception is everything and that housing concerns are having some impact on the rental market.

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This entry was posted on Monday, May 12th, 2008 at 1:37 pm and is filed under Real Estate. Tags: Consumer energy prospective buyer prospective buyers Vermont . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.