Educated women driving rental market: VIDEO

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.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

“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