Comments on: Rents Are Rising in Washington D.C.—Unlike Anywhere Else

By: Matilde

Matilde — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:21:54 +0000

The title to this post is quite misleading – I certainly wouldn’t describe a fall of less than 1% in ‘rental income per key’, as described in the Forbes article, an indication of rising rents.

Another important thing to consider when looking at a measure such as ‘rental income per key’ over time is that you have to examine very carefully how the data provider adjusts for changes in apartment quality over the time series. Particularly in cites like DC, where many older buildings converted to condos and many newer buildings reverted to luxury rentals, the quality of rental composition has been quite dynamic. Failure to adjust for the increase in the quality of rentals will understate the true fall in rental income.

Anecdotaly, we knocked 15% off the asking rent when we moved to a larger apartment last year, largely because there were so many vacant rentals the landlord was eager to make a deal. That’s certainly a different market than when I moved to DC seven years ago, when the vacancy rate hovered around 0.5% and I could barely get landlords to return a phone call.

By: Good real estate news finally… « Bates Area Civic Association

Good real estate news finally… « Bates Area Civic Association — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 13:07:16 +0000

[...] real estate news finally… …well, at least for some folks. The City Paper says: Rents Are Rising in Washington D.C.—Unlike Anywhere Else from Housing Complex by Ruth Samuelson. Well, Houston’s the exception (incidentally the last [...]

By: DC Metrocentric

DC Metrocentric — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:51:36 +0000

[...] Washington Rents Rising? – Seems like unlike everywhere else in the country, rents in our fair city are still holding strong, and even rising in some cases. Who knew we had the second largest rental market in the country? One ray of sunshine! [Housing Complex] [...]

By: Who Says Every Condo Building Needs Ample Parking? - Housing Complex - Washington City Paper

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 19:42:56 +0000

[...] People in D.C. are increasingly less interested in owning cars. The Washington Business Journal is reporting “a sharp 5.8 percent decline in registered cars in D.C. since 2005…even as population and household income have gone up.” Perhaps people are spending more on this living cost. [...]