Families More Likely to Rent Than Own Since 2008, Study Says

More families are renting homes than buying them, according to a new study by online apartment-finding platform RENTCafé based in part on the latest Census data.

Families renting their homes increased by 1.9 million over the last decade, whereas homeownership by families dropped about 3.6 million, per the Census Bureau. RENTCafe analyst Nadia Balint tells CBS News, "air-tight lending rules, an alarming shortage of entry-level homes and skyrocketing home prices," while Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors, agrees, but points to another factor, "What we're looking at is 10 years of underproduction of homes. It's creating a divide between the haves and the have-nots."

Of course, 10 years is just "a blip on the radar" for the housing market, she admitted, and people have other reasons to rent. One is that families are smaller and their need for a big home in the suburbs as opposed to a two-bedroom apartment is less -- at least until the family grows ... Another reason to rent is that it appears to be a better financial deal than ownership, at least according to RENTCafe. Single-family homes prices have risen 75 percent faster than rents in the last five years, up 35 percent vs. 20 percent for rentals, the study said. Both have outpaced the increase in family income by a wide margin.

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