NPR on the Four-Letter Word That's Easing Housing Fears

Renting, as opposed to buying, is being viewed increasingly as the smart choice for many Americans, reported Joshua Brockman last week in NPR's "Four Letters Ease Housing Fears For Some: Rent." In past decades, renting was something you did "...if you didn't make enough money, [...] if you weren't ambitious [or] if you weren't sort of smart enough," says Nicolas Retsinas director of Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies.

This change in perception stems partially from a distrust of investing given the possibility of incurring a financial loss when selling your home in this market. While the declining homeownership rate and decrease in home sales haven't yet resulted in a surge in rentals, Brockman suggests that "changing attitudes may boost the rental market going forward." Demand for rental housing will grow once the employment market bounces back, predicts Mark Obrinsky, chief economist for the National Multi Housing Council. Nonetheless, currently an average one third of the American population is already renting a home.

As such, some experts are anticipating that the Obama administration will begin putting more emphasis on renting in coming months. A number of officials are now rethinking the emphasis that had been put for years on the importance of homeownership. As Brockman suggests, it will be interesting to see whether the Administration will "seek a more balanced housing policy, talking more about giving people options, worrying more about whether people have a decent place to live, rather than whether they own or rent."

Brockman closed with a point about renting similar to that brought up in the interview with Washington City Paper's Lydia DePillis in our newsletter. Unlike homeownership, renting allows you to pick up and move for a new job, both experts agreed. Being tied down to a home, which can be difficult to sell in this market, rarely affords the same flexibility.