The single-family rental market is growing as more and more people are apparently choosing to rent their homes as opposed to purchasing them. In 2015, the number of American households that owned their homes had fallen to 63.7 percent, down from 69 percent at the height of the housing bubble, according to HousingWire.
What this means is that for anyone out there who fancies themselves a savvy investor, the time to hop onboard the single-family rental unit train might be now. And anyone interested in the places were rents (and therefore profits) are rising the quickest, RentRange, a provider of market data and analytics for the single-family rental industry, has created a list of the top 25 U.S. metropolitan statistical areas that have seen their single-family homes’ rental rates increase the most between the first quarter of 2015 and the first quarter of 2015.
Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla. is first on the list after experiencing a change in rent of 29.2 percent and an average gross yield in quarter one of 7.81 percent. Naples-Marco Island, Fla. came in second with a rent increase of 26.0 percent and Knoxville, Tenn., took the third spot with a 19.9 percent increase.
Naples-Marco Island, Fla., Syracuse, N.Y., and Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wis., are all new additions to the top ten compared to last quarter. Other cities on the list include Charleston-North Charleston, S.C. (10), Madison, Wis. (12), Denver-Aurora, Colo. (18), and San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, Calif. (25).
It is yet to be determined if Americans will begin to favor renting a single-family home over purchasing it, but, at least for the time being, the numbers seem to be favoring that idea.
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