The fastest growing renter segment in the nation are those who earn $150,000 or more annually, according to RentCafé's analysis of Census and real estate data.
The study finds that from 2007 to 2017, such high-income renters grew by 175 percent, versus the homeowner growth rate of 67 percent. MarketWatch reports that more wealthy Americans are renting because they either can't afford to buy in their preferred markets, or simply prefer to. Doug Ressler, senior analyst at real estate data firm Yardi Matrix, explains that renting may be an attractive option since there has been an influx of amenity-rich high-end rentals in the nation's rental stock.
A 2018 study from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University also found that high-earners were increasingly renting. The number of renters with incomes above $100,000 rose 5 percent in 2017, “bringing the cumulative increase in 2012–2017 to about 2.6 million,” the report revealed. Furthermore, the rentership rate in that income bracket hit an all-time high (19 percent) in 2017 with higher income households accounting “for the vast majority of renter growth over the past five years.”
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