Calculator: Need a Raise to Cover That Rent Increase?
The best way to cover a rent increase, if you can swing it, is to get a raise. That’s money out of your employer’s pocket and not your own – which, if they want to keep you and keep you happy, is a solid deal for everyone. But how much of a raise, exactly, do you need to ask for?
December 2016 Market Report: What Could Flattening Rents Mean for 2017?
A months-long streak of accelerating home value growth was met with an equally long stretch of flattening rents to end 2016, a trend with interesting implications for the housing market as a whole as attention turns to the busy 2017 home shopping season to come.
November 2016 Market Report: Home Values Growing at Fastest Pace Since 2006
As 2016 comes to a close, annual growth in rents has stabilized, the number of homes listed for sale is at its lowest point on record and annual home value growth is accelerating. Looking ahead into 2017 and beyond, all three of these trends are likely to continue influencing each other and the market as a whole.
Annual growth in median rents nationwide has slowed considerably from last summer’s breakneck pace, offering some relief to renters struggling to pay less money to their landlords and put more money into savings for a home purchase. But just because rental growth is slowing down, doesn’t mean it’s not still growing – and incredibly quickly – in some of the nation’s hottest markets, according to the Zillow Rent Forecast, contributing to continued affordability concerns.
Americans Paid $535 Billion in Rent in 2015
America’s 43 million renter households spent $535 billion on rent in 2015, up $19 billion, or 4 percent, from $516 billion in 2014. The increase was driven both by rising rents and a surge in the number of U.S. renter households, which grew by about 1.8 million this year compared to 2014.
