Ridgewood Homes & Real Estate For Sale
Monday, August 13, 2012
Saturday, April 21, 2012
New Activity Promises Uptick for the Ridgewood Market
New Activity Promises Uptick for the Ridgewood Market
Buying homes and renting them are such distinctly separate aspects of Ridgewood’s
real estate scene that we tend to pay attention only to the sector we
are most involved with. We pretty much ignore the other. Renters and
real estate investors watch trends in residential rentals, while
homeowners and soon-to-be homeowners check on prices and activity in the
Ridgewood home market.
All of which means that it’s easy to overlook how trends in one sector have major impacts on the other. And any
sort of residential construction activity – new building or remodeling –
has a direct and positive impact on our economy as a whole.
So here’s some good news: this year, rental construction
is expected to reach its highest level since 2005. Somehow that may not
seem like such a big deal, but despite the way it looks, 2005 is SEVEN
years ago (time flies, doesn’t it?)! Those have been seven painful
years for most of the construction folks we know, so the change comes as
welcome news. It’s also possible that a turnaround could mean that
other turnarounds in different areas of the economy may be in the wind.
The apartment experts at NMHC
just published something that most of us already suspected. They found
that nationally, apartment vacancy rates fell to a decade low of 4.9%.
We have already written about how asking rents continue to rise (in March,
up .5% from the previous month). The same experts noted that some
empty-nesters seem to be increasingly likely to opt for the convenience
of apartment living -- even those who could easily afford to buy.
It
explains why more investors are stepping up to order the building of
new rental homes even as many older apartments and rental homes are
being renovated. Add to that recent government moves to
encourage lenders to become at least temporary landlords, and the result
is real activity. Budgets have been tight for families in recent years,
which may have caused them to decide to choose rental homes that were
older, hence less expensive. If the economy continues to strengthen,
these same families may later be able to afford to look at one of the
new rental homes now under construction. It’s likely that many tenants
would choose to live in a place that is a product of new construction,
or in a complex that has been recently renovated.
All
that increased building activity is another sign that the housing
market as a whole is waking up. In the longer range, since newer rentals
generally cost more money, more would-be tenants will ultimately
reconsider the prospect of owning a home – in turn increasing demand for
first-time or entry level homes.
Wherever your family falls in theRidgewood
real estate mix, don’t hesitate to call our office when you have a
question about the market and what is available for you. We’re standing
by!
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