From the Dayton Business Journal:
http://www.bizjournals.com/dayton/print-edition/2011/06/24/as-economy-fluctuates-rentals-gain.html
As economy fluctuates, rentals gain ground on homes
Rentals now tally 32.4% of all units
Premium content from Dayton Business Journal - by Ginger Christ, DBJ Staff Reporter
Date: Friday, June 24, 2011, 6:00am EDT
Related:
Residential Real Estate
Blame it on Generation Y. Call it a failure to commit. Throw in several years of economic uncertainty. Amid those reasons and others, home ownership is on the decline, being edged out by a new proclivity toward renting. Last year, 32.4 percent of the state’s occupied housing units were rentals, a noticeable climb from 30.9 percent in 2000, according to U.S. Census data.
Similarly, in Montgomery County, there were 2 percent — or 268 rentals — more rental properties in June than in the same month during the previous year, according to the Montgomery County auditor’s office. In the county, rentals represented a little more than 6 percent of total occupied housing units.
Dave Liette
, president of MV Residential Development, a division of Moraine-based Miller-Valentine Group, said his company is working to up its presence in the rental market. MV Residential currently operates more than 100 communities in five states, including The Falls at Settler’s Walk in Springboro, and is in the process of building new complexes in Iowa, Tennessee and Kentucky. Its apartment business represents roughly half of its overall business. “Apartments are one of the hottest things out there,” Liette said. Ltte said he has seen would-be buyers turning to rentals as a result of the economy. The newest crop of buyers in the market, those in the 25 to 35-year-old age group, saw the housing market collapse in 2007 and are cautious about investing in a property. They are renters by choice, not by necessity.“I believe because of the challenges of the single-family market, apartments are a good business to be in,” Liette said.
The for-sale market has yet to recover from the housing slump that’s plagued the country the past few years. Through May, the Dayton region saw declines in the number of homes sold, sale price and dollar volume compared to the previous year. However, in 2010, numbers were inflated by federal home buyer tax credits.Charlie Simms
, owner of Dayton-based Charles Simms Development, said the recession has helped the rental market because it has encouraged more people to rent than to buy. Through Simms Management, Simms operates four apartment communities in Washington Township and Miami Township, all of which are about 97 percent occupied. Simms also is a developer of condominiums, a market which he said is recovering, but has been more impacted by the recession than has the apartment market. Apartments in the greater Dayton region have an 8.7 percent vacancy rate, according to Gem Real Estate Group ’s 2010 apartment market survey. In 2006, before the recession hit, the vacancy rate was 9.1 percent.“I think the rental market is going to stay strong for the next several years to come until supply and demand works its way through the for-sale housing,” Simms said. “Rentals are a good place to be right now.” While he hasn’t seen a lot of new apartment construction projects yet in 2011, Simms said there were a few projects last year, such as the $8.6 million 104-unit expansion of Austin Springs Luxury Apartments by Indianapolis-based J.C. Hart Co. And there are a number of projects in the works.
The University of Dayton is expected to begin construction next spring on a $25 million
apartment development. The complex, which will be built by Moraine-based Miller-Valentine Group, will feature five townhouse-style apartment buildings that will house 427 upperclassmen and international students. Only counties with populations of more than 200,000 residents are required to track rental registration in Ohio. 2010 Census data is not yet available for the county level.E-mail gchrist@bizjournals.com. Call (937) 528-4427.
