I really hope renters don't have to choose between housing and food in the near future, but that's what it's looking like.
The cost of monthly rent reached a new high in February, with the typical apartment now $283 more expensive each month than it was two years ago, before the onset of the pandemic.
The national median rent was $1,792 last month, up 17% from a year ago, according to a report from Realtor.com. Rent for studio apartments, one bedrooms and two bedrooms all saw double-digit increases over the past year.
I'm not one of you fancy city folk, so I can't even imagine what it's like to shell out $1,700 bucks a month for a studio flat with mold on the walls and a toilet that was installed 40 years ago.
Remember back in the good old days, when the government didn't try to fix rent prices, print ungodly sums of extra cash for the heck of it, or meddle in people's living situation in pretty much any way whatsoever?
In fact, it's funny how every category the government makes regulations, bailouts, and "stimuluses," the economy responds by sending cost-of-living prices through the roof!
February marked the seventh-straight month of rents soaring by double-digit percentages, after rents cratered in some of the biggest cities during the pandemic.
Sure is great that the federal bureaucracy illegally used the Center for Disease Control to somehow ban landowners and landlords from increasing rent prices. That really worked out in the long term, eh?
In some cities, the rent increases have been staggering. Miami saw the fastest growth, with the median rental price spiking 55% in February from a year ago, making it the least affordable market of the top 50 cities, according to the report.
I mean, that just makes sense. Florida is not only sunny all the time, but it's currently the most based state in the Union.
Cities that saw the smallest rent increases were Cleveland, Minneapolis and Detroit, where rents were up by just 6% or less in February from a year ago.
I guess people don't like crime, looting, cold weather, and the new white-sounding-as-heck Cleveland "Guardians."
San Jose, California, remains the most expensive place to rent, with a median rent of $3,024 a month, followed by San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami and New York City.
Why would you still live in New York or LA? I mean, really, you could afford to buy 40 acres with a five-bedroom mansion for the price you're paying to literally have the government and criminals (oops, repeated myself!) bleed you dry. There's still internet, stores, airports, and fun excursions outside leftist cities, you know!
- Go move to Idaho, where you can get a good Christian wife and move into your new bulletproof home.
- Go to the South, where there are still plenty of old-fashioned towns with giant houses for under $100,000.
- Go to Florida, where your kids can be kids far away from the groomers and pedophiles (as long as you don't go to Disney).
I mean, really, what are you staying for? The pollution? The needles on the sidewalks? The urban decay? The Broadway productions where you pay a fortune to have house managers chew out your triple-vaxxed behind if you fail to pull up your mask between sips of water?
The Sun Belt continues to attract new residents drawn by its relative affordability, attractive lifestyle and an increased ability to work remotely. As a result, all 10 of the fastest-growing rental markets are in the southern tier of the US, including four in Florida.
By "relative affordability, attractive lifestyle and increased ability to work remotely," they mean "these areas have conservative policies with traditional values that emphasize the sovereignty of the individual, the importance of the free market, and the role of faith and family." CNN just couldn't bring themselves to write that.
Rent growth is being driven up by an increase in demand, particularly from young renters, many of whom may have been priced out of buying a home, according to the report.
Hmm. Maybe we shouldn't have devalued our currency, stopped all our construction crews and supply guys, and told those young renters to stop their lives for two years over the Wuhan bug.
A general rule of thumb is to keep monthly housing costs at 30% or less of monthly income. But even if wages are rising in some industries, rents are up a lot more -- and taking up a larger share of monthly income.
Oh well. At least food prices aren't skyrocketing, right?
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