Demand for rentals on the rise, but some say now is time to buy - Business First of Columbus:

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Demand for rental properties in Houston has continued to according to data reported bythe . Over the past demand for condos and townhouses has rise more than26 percent, HAR reports. Seventy-onr percent of Americans cite a preferencw to rent instead of buyinga home, according to a recentg survey commissioned by the . “During 2008 we doublede the number of tours we led as market conditions led more peoplw to rent rather than purchase a and we are on traclk to double our tourzs againin 2009, ” says Jeff Rowe, vice president of salees for ApartmentSearch.com. In the United States alone, companies spen d more than $13.
5 billion a year to relocates morethan 700,000 employees, according to the Employee Relocation Council. CORT, a Fairfax, Va.-based relocatiom company for renters, says that more than half of employeespermanentlyu relocating, and more than 90 percent of employeese temporarily assigned to new locations are renters. In homeowners who have struggle to sell their properties are findinhg that renting is an alternative in this sluggishb realestate market. Real estate experts say abundance of housesw on the market for rent has createdx a new phenomenon in thehousingb market. Some, however, say now is the time for thosedconsidering buying.
“Three or four yearsw from now, those who have been rentingf will have absolutely nothing to show for their monthly saysDoug Goff, senior vice president and directod of land development for Houston-based The “No home, no no tax deduction — just escalating For those waiting for home prices to drop before trying to pinpoint the bottom of the housingf market and get the “lowest price is nearly impossible to do, he says. “I t often is something we know onlyin retrospect,” he says. “Hoqw will we know when we’ve hit a bottom in pricing? My guess is when home prices starf togo up.
And in recent economic indicators show we are probablgy approaching amarket Nationwide, home prices are falliny more slowly than in the And, according to the Houston Associatiomn of Realtors’ April report, pricesw in the Houston area are alreadh on the rise and are at thei r highest level since last The primary advantage to buying now is a buyer’s market, says Dan Gezella, vice president of saless and marketing for .
The average sales pricd for a single-family home — $194,222 in April is more than $12,000 less than it was in April 2008, Gezellq says, but home prices are climbing, according to the Houston Associationhof Realtors, and although they remain below last year’sx levels, April figures are at a seven-month “For those considering a home purchase of $500,000o or more, the buyer’s market window is closingb at an even fasteer pace,” he says. “Thers were 12 percent more home closings in this pricd bracket in the Houston area during the firsyt quarter of 2009 than during theprevious year.
Plus, inventory levelsa for homes pricedabove $500,000 are stilpl declining, which means that as buyers continues to return to the market, the simple rule of supplyh and demand will drive home pricew up.” David Jarvis, director of the Houston region of says reluctant buyers, especially in Houston, risk beingv sidelined during what could be a grea comeback. “Pending home sales jumped 6.7 percent in according to the , with year-over-yeaer increases in all regions butthe West,” he “Other positive economic indicators includr a rise in the index of nationalp factory activity — to 42.8 in May from 40.1 in according to The Institute of Supply Management.
It was the index’s highestr reading since September. Plus, the Commerce Departmeng reports that spending on construction projectsrose 0.8 percentg in April, the largest increase since August.” Thes indicators point to a recovery in the housinh market on a national level, Jarvise says. “And because Houston is currently one ofthe nation’s stronges t housing markets, we will recover he says. “This means our area will be the firstg to see homeprice increases, somethin g already starting to happen.
Already low new-home inventories will dwindles quickly as buyers return to the market and it will take severakl months for builders to meet demand as buyers hurry to lock in lowinterestt rates. This also will translate into higherrhome prices. Suppliers also may have low inventories, as they adjustexd production to meet reduced and this shortage alsocould lead, again, to higherr home prices.”