THE HOUSING BOOM CONTINUES.......FOR LANDLORDS!

Back as early as September I mentioned in "No Bubble for Landlords" how well apartment REITs were doing as landlords raised rents causing values to increase. People claimed at the time that rents would have to go down as vacancies increase. They were wrong.

Then, in October I wrote "If Fewer People are Buying, It Must Mean More People are Renting" vacancies rates possibly shrinking to 5% by year end. That would certainly translate into higher rents.

In November, Apartments.com released a renter's survey in "Renters thankful for landlord's maintenance". 23.6% answered the reason to rent was because it was "Less expensive than home ownership". Supply vs. Demand. Rents headed higher.

I concluded in "THEY DON'T RING A BELL AT THE TOP!" with this:
"Many are rooting for the housing market to collapse, for some reason. And, if it does, Landlords will get exactly what they finally deserve: Namely a huge pool of qualified tenants fighting over fewer and fewer vacancies in which rents will sure go up, making their rental units worth more and more!"

As it turned out, 2006 was another stellar year for commercial real estate: Valley's Commercial Buildings Sold Well in 2006.

Today, CNN Money has an article, Most expensive rental markets in which Marcus & Millichap concludes:

• Rents are up, in part, because of the slowdown in the housing markets. That has has kept potential home buyers in the rental market.
• The company also attributes the strength of the rental markets to the strong economy and job growth.
• In the three years that will end December 31, 2007, the company forecasts that the average rent in the United States will have increased by 14 percent, far faster that the rate of inflation.