Well, in a lot of US cities, as the recession hits hard, demand for apartments are…going down?
It seems that way at first. “For rent” signs are appearing everywhere, and vacancy rates are going up. But it’s not that demand’s going down, it’s that supply’s going up.
People forget that the housing boom was also a condo boom. And with the crash of the condo market, a lot of condos are now being rented out because no one’s buying. A glut has hit the market.
We’re actually pretty calm about this. All the property we own (so far) is in Canada, where there wasn’t the crazy condo overbuilding you saw in the US last decade. So demand for apartments is healthy. And we’re still poking around in the US, because guess how costly buildings are now, thanks to the glut of supply? The answer would be: Not very.
In a few years, as population growth grinds along and the complete present dearth of building catches up with the country, the US will experience a major housing shortage, leaving everybody with their pants down. Except for the people who already own buildings, which will be us, and our investors.
