The apartment building boom you've read about for the past several months here and just about everywhere else is easy enough to understand. But the deeper back story involves some things you may not have considered. Obviously, watching family members, friends, neighbors and co-workers have their financial health decimated by an ill-timed (or not even) home purchase is steering much of the home buying market to rentals. But these new entrants are an addition to the normal market for renters, which is rebounding with the improving economy. So an already skinny pool of rentals is especially strained. The solution that makes the most sense on its face- to convert foreclosures into new rentals- has some pretty serious flaws. So it's a good time to be a landlord. Or a homebuyer. A renter? Not so much. [Slate]
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