With rental demand increasing, landlords are increasing the price of rent around the city. What does this mean for your average renter? Renting isn’t such a deal anymore. In fact, of Chicago-area renters, 28.6% are “severely burdened” with the costs associated with renting, according to a report released by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies.
What does “severely burdened” mean for Chicagoans? The math isn’t good. One in three renters in the Chicago-area use half of their income on both utilities and rent. That doesn’t leave as much cash flow for renters, especially compared to a decade ago.
The problem isn’t just in Chicago. Many low and middle-income renters are spending most of their paychecks on keeping a roof over their head.
- Chicago rent prices may be going up, but the cost of Condos – like at 500 Superior Street – is going down.
The housing market may still be recovering, but it makes you think twice about renting, when the costs are promising just to go up more and more, as we reported earlier on CondoDomain’s blog.
Here’s some other rental and real estate information that’s been in the news lately:
Why now is a good time to sell [blogs.forbes.com]
Additional findings from the Housing Studies report on rentals [Chicago Tribune]
Falling home prices in 2011 [Chicago Sun-Times]
