The global pandemic has created a situation unlike any other. The economic impact and altering of work methodology means that a lot of changes are occurring. One of the most common issues is when it comes to housing, and specifically to rentals. There’s been a huge change in the market as many people have found their income damaged. In turn, this has affected the rental vacancy scene.
It often seems like it’s incredibly difficult to find an apartment. However this is not a situation in which most people will find themselves now. Rental vacancies are soaring for a number of reasons. While many of them are due to the short term problems the country has been dealing with, there’s also some longer term housing reasons that there’s so many apartments available.
Effects Of Housing Markets On Rental Vacancies
Housing markets have changed. The rising cost of homes have made rental opportunities more appealing. Also, many people have recognized the potential of buying homes and condos and then renting them out. This has further depleted the amount of homes available to buy at a reasonable price.
In theory this would increase the number of people who are trying to rent, since they couldn’t buy a home. The actual issue however, is that so many people are trying to rent out extra homes and apartments, that there are too many of them. For renters, this means you get more choice, though many are still trying to charge prices as if everything was in demand.
Pandemic Effects on Rental Vacancies
The pandemic has affected renters in several different ways. Obviously it’s affected people in more than several ways, but the specific effects on rental vacancies are very real. Some of them include:
- Evictions Are Up - With so many people suddenly dealing with little or no money coming in, many tenants have been forced into evictions because landlords needed the payments. There’s a problem though. The people being evicted aren’t exactly picking another rental opportunity. These are often becoming apartments that are completely empty instead.
- Money is Down - Quite simply, a strong economy with lots of people working means that there are more people out looking for apartments. Most of the people hardest hit economically are lower income people. These are also more often renters. Since they are unable to rent a place, many have had to seek out roommates or go live with friends or family. This means more rental vacancies
- Education is Different - Arguably, one of the biggest reasons there are so many rental vacancies is because of the way that colleges are handling their curriculum. With so many students taking advantage of remote learning, there’s really no reason for them to also have their own apartment near their college. A huge number have chosen to stay at home with their family and instead save a large sum of money that they can use for something else later.
- Social Distancing and Quarantines - Since many people are susceptible to illness and potentially worried about getting sick, many people have retreated to live with their families. It helps provide extra comfort in a time of difficulty.
