Rents expected to rise this year and next

With apartment and rental housing construction chopped in half in recent years and a surplus of former homeowners competing for apartment space with "echo boomers" and other renters, conditions are suddenly ideal for landlords to raise the rent, according to MSNBC.com.

Last year the rental market shifted from a tenants’ market to what is now unquestionably a landlord’s market, said Chris Herbert, research director at Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. The supply of properties is getting tighter and vacancy rates are dropping, so landlords sense an opportunity to raise the rent.

Nationally, rents are expected to rise 5 percent this year and another 5 percent in 2012, according to Greg Willett, vice president of research and analysis at MPF Research in Carrollton, Texas. The trend is not expected to moderate until 2013, when new multifamily housing construction adds to supply and the housing market stabilizes enough to attract new buyers.

For more information: www.today.msnbc.msn.com/id/43315486/