As I wrote Monday:
In really bad times, people who are evicted from their houses will not rent. Instead, they will move in with friends or family for some time.
As the Wall Street Journal explained last October:
Driving the change
is the troubled employment market, which is closely tied to rentals. With unemployment at 9.8% — a 26-year high — more would-be renters are doubling up or moving in with family and friends during periods of job loss. Landlords have been particularly battered because unemployment has been higher among workers under 35 years old, who are more likely to rent. Nationally, effective rents have fallen by 2.7% over the past year, to around $972.
As Zack’s Investment Research writes:
A smaller percentage of Americans owned their own homes in the 4th quarter of 2009 than at any time since 2000. In the 4th quarter 67.2% of Americans owned their own home, down from 67.6% in the third quarter and two full percentage points below the peak set in the fourth quarter of 2004.
As the first graph below shows (from Calculated Risk) …:
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/04/guest-post-1-2-million-households-disappear-putting-downward-pressure-on-home-prices-and-rents.html