Rental Prices Are Less Affordable Than Ever
Almost half of U.S. renters are spending 30 percent of their income on rent, according to a new report from Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies.
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For renter households in the U.S., new research on the current market has told a persistently troublesome story, with falling vacancy rates pushing rents higher and forcing households to spend greater shares of their incomes on housing.
A biennial report on the U.S. rental market published on Wednesday by Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies is no exception. Last year, 49 percent of renters paid at least 30 percent of their income on rent, meeting the threshold where housing experts say a renter is cost-burdened. Twenty-six percent paid at least 50 percent of their income on rent, making them "severely cost-burdened."