As the housing market recovers, a demographic shift is keeping multi-family developers on solid ground. According to NBC News, an increase in the number of educated women is driving the U.S. rental market.
With 3 million more women than men in college and 4 million more college-educated women than men in the workforce, women are finding it harder to find a compatible mate, leading to the lowest fertility numbers in U.S. history, according to Buck Horne, a housing analyst at Raymond James.
“What drives demand for single family homes is, ‘Oh honey, I’m pregnant,'” Horne said.
Horne’s research found that single women and a growing demographic of single mothers prefer living closer to cities in full-amenity rentals. And as more and more highly educated women enter the workforce, long-term demand for rentals should stay strong, Horne concludes.
“I rent in an apartment building because it gives me a certain amount of freedom: I’m not positive that I want to stay in D.C. long term, so I could leave at year’s end if I wanted to,” Caitlin Huey-Burns, a 25-year-old journalist, said. “My building has nice, built-in amenities, and it’s in the location I want, but where I know I wouldn’t be able to afford to buy.” [NBC News] —Christopher Cameron