By: Arthur Acolin, Alex Ramiller, Rebecca J. Walter, Samantha Thompson, and Ruoniu Wang | Housing Matters
Homeownership is a key tool for wealth building, particularly for households with low and moderate incomes, for whom homeownership is often their primary means of asset building. Yet barriers to entry, including down payments and other borrowing constraints, prevent many households from accessing and equitably benefiting from homeownership.
By Amber Randall |South Florida Sun Sentinel
According to a newly released forecast from realtor.com on how the housing market will fare in 2022, home prices are expected to rise almost 6% in South Florida over the next year. This comes after a year and a half of already record growth.
There is some good news in the forecast for South Florida home buyers, as it may indicate that the housing market is returning to a more healthy growth rate, after over a year of frenzied demand.
By Amber Randall |South Florida Sun Sentinel
Wages aren’t keeping up with soaring rents in South Florida, and that’s forcing many renters to make sacrifices and difficult choices between basic necessities and paying their landlords.
While rents in the region have surged an average of 22% higher than last year, income has only risen between 8% and 10%, according to ATTOM Data, a provider of nationwide property data.
By Sophie Kasakove | The New York Times
The heightened strain on available housing has strengthened the position of landlords.
“Landlords seem anxious to move tenants out so they can go out and take advantage of those higher rents,” said Zach Neumann, director of the COVID-19 Eviction Defense Project in Colorado.
Skyrocketing rents are blunting the effectiveness of emergency rental assistance, the only federal tool remaining for struggling renters, as landlords decide not to extend leases and then raise rents beyond what existing tenants can afford, Neumann said. Other tenants are being displaced as landlords rush to sell buildings amid a booming market.
By Amber Randall | South Florida Sun Sentinel
It’s been two weeks since Sean Jeremy’s landlord raised his rent beyond what he could afford. For now, the only place he can afford to live is in his car.
Soaring rents in South Florida are putting others like Jeremy is a similar bind. With housing costs too high, concern is growing that more people will find themselves priced onto the streets.