Running out of room (Pittsburgh, Troy: transplants, apartments, rentals)

[nuwaver88]

KDKA TV had a report on how apartment rentals in Pittsburgh are running at 98% capacity. A few different recent transplants were interviewed and said how hard it was for them to find a rental that suited their need. Experts said the reasoning for this shortage was threefold.
1. Banks are not as quick to give out loans for mortgages during a recession, forcing people to rent/
2. Housing stock is old and cost of construction too high to build despite the need.
3. People moving here for Marcellus Shale are taking up all of the rentals. Really? I did not think it was that drastic.

Anyway, the first two make sense, while the third I am a bit skeptical on. Anyway, as we can see on this board a lot of people are looking to move to Pittsburgh. Do not let this fool you. If you are willing to pay and have a budget foe rent in the $800 to $1000.00 a month for rent range, you will find a place in nice area. I would act sooner rather than later because come Fall, you will be in competion with college students, at least in the East End. I personally see a boom in apartment building coming soon. it is inevitable. The demand is there, especially Downtown and other areas.

[greg42]

4. Compared to other parts of the country, there wasn't such a residential building boom here, particularly in the rental market.

So we've gone years without significant increase in supply of rental units, but over the last few particularly there has been a steady increase in demand. Increase in demand is partly due to 1 and 3 above, sure, dunno about 2, don't really understand that one. Some of it is also due to deliberate choice to rent over buying.

[BrianTH]

I don't quite buy those arguments as stated.

#1 isn't a new problem in Pittsburgh--we never had a loose mortgage market anyway, and I think at this point it isn't really much of a factor. I'd say greater reluctance on the part of potential buyers is a bigger issue.

#2 doesn't really make sense--costs of construction aren't unusually high here. I think the real problem is that financing is hard to come by, for reasons that don't have much to do with Pittsburgh specifically.

Finally, #3 can't all be Marcellus people. In fact, we know there are more students, and also more young adults in general.

So basically, we have seen an increase in demand for rentals, but the supply response has been constrained by the poor national markets for financing.

[PreservationPioneer]

I think the reason we are running out of room is because people are only looking in select neighborhoods. Wake up, people. The West End, North, and South neighborhoods are wide open, and have been losing population for years.

[greg42]

They're truly talking about the overall rental occupancy rate, AFAIK, not just certain areas. That should include rental units everywhere in other words, even the not-so-select neighborhoods.

Now if you want to compare it to your own situation AA (buying really cheap house in what is mostly a workable neighborhood), then yes, I get that. But not everyone is willing to dig that hard or take that chance on the neighborhoods like you. Buying even a $20k house can be more of a $$ risk than renting if you can't stick it out for at least a few years.

[jtpgh]

Anecdotally, I own a few rentals in mt washington....just posted a decent 2 bedroom townhouse for $750 plus all utils and I have had non stop calls and emails over the last week.

I was thinking that our hood was drawing more and more interest/people over time, but maybe its on a larger scale....

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by alleghenyangel

I think the reason we are running out of room is because people are only looking in select neighborhoods. Wake up, people. The West End, North, and South neighborhoods are wide open, and have been losing population for years.

Since we are talking about rentals, that is really an issue for prospective landlords.

Again, I personally think it is mostly a financing issue. People could make good money buying, fixing up, and renting out places in a lot of these neighborhoods, but that takes financing up front, and that is tough to get these days. But I don't think that situation can last for much longer.

[SteelCityRising]

When I was moving to Polish Hill my landlady had person after person after person flooding her with inquiries about her unit. Thankfully they all fell through in one way, shape, or form, enabling me to pounce, but for a few days until I was able to come up here from Virginia and plunk down my deposit I was on pins and needles. I would personally love to live in the Strip District, but the only options available are upscale and expensive lofts. Not everyone can afford to buy, even with the reasonable housing prices here, yet the rental market is ridiculously tight, too.

[ferraris]

I'm not sure how trustworthy the article is when it includes a quote like this:

It’s about $800 to up to a few thousand dollars a month just to rent an apartment in Pittsburgh.

There are TONS of apartments for less than $800; and "up to a few thousand dollars"? I'm not even sure if I could find an apartment for even $1500/month if I tried, let a lone a few thousand. Maybe at South Side Works or The Cork Factory, but those are not really typical rental situations.

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by alleghenyangel

I think the reason we are running out of room is because people are only looking in select neighborhoods. Wake up, people. The West End, North, and South neighborhoods are wide open, and have been losing population for years.

As was pointed out in another thread, rents aren't that much cheaper in the less desirable areas. If I could pay half as much rent to live in some place like Troy Hill, I would...but usually it's better to just to cyber-camp craigslist for rent that's roughly the same but in a nicer area like Bloomfield.

The same definitely cannot be said about house prices though. Troy Hill is on the top of my list if I buy a house in the next year or two.