The housing market squeeze pushes renters into bidding wars
“In the first quarter of this year, a time when the rental market usually cools, apartment occupancy hit another all-time high — an extraordinary 97.6%. Asking rents for new leases were up 15.2% nationally, and far more than that in many places.
‘There’s a severe shortage of rental housing at all price points and in essentially every city across the country,’ wrote Jay Parsons, the head of economics and industry principals for RealPage. He attributes much of the demand to unprecedented wage growth.”