Business Insider recently released a list of 17 US cities with the most rapidly rising rents. I’d like to take a quick look at just the top five.
5. Seattle, Washington
Population-713,700
Median yearly income-$80,000
Rent paid in 2017-$9.4 billion
Annual increase in rent-9.4%
4. Portland, Oregon
Population-639,836
Median yearly income-$82,734
Rent paid in 2017-$4.8 billion
Annual increase in rent-6.1%
3. Charlotte, North Carolina
Population-859,452
Median yearly income-$53,274
Rent paid in 2017-$3.3 billion
Annual increase in rent-7.3%
2. Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota
Population-3,866,768
Median yearly income-$46,000
Rent paid in 2017-$5.2 billion
Annual increase in rent-7.6%
1. Las Vegas, Nevada
Population-623,747
Median yearly income-$51,552
Rent paid in 2017-$4.2 billion
Annual increase in rent-7.8%
I don’t have much to say about the why and how of these rent increases. The likely explanation is fundamental supply and demand. The demand for housing is out matching the relatively fixed supply. It’s worth noting that Seattle and Portland both have average incomes that are much higher than the national average, which means maybe these residents aren’t feeling the pain as much as in the other three states mentioned.
Sources:
http://www.businessinsider.com/rent-cost-growth-in-us-cities-2017-12/#1-las-vegas-nevada-17
https://www.seattle.gov/opcd/population-and-demographics
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/data/80000-median-wage-income-gain-in-seattle-far-outpaces-other-cities/
http://www.bestplaces.net/economy/city/north_carolina/charlotte
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minneapolis%E2%80%93Saint_Paul
https://www.forbes.com/places/mn/minneapolis-st-paul/
http://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/las-vegas-population/
http://uspopulation2017.com/population-charlotte-2017.html
