Where Rents Are Rising the Most, and Least

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The cost of living in most cities in this country is out of whack with what the majority of people living in those areas makes. I agree that home ownership is not a right that all people should be guranteed and I do agree it was shady lending that led to the economic downturn we have taken. That being said I think the cost of living is one of the biggest issues not talked about in this country. When it costs the middle and lower class too much to survive and make ends meet corporations and businesses have to pay their workers more so they can survive. The higher costs of keeping employees has led to a mass exodus of jobs overseas since businesses here have to contend with paying workers and making products at a price that people will buy. Since it's too expensive to pay employees here due to their rents being way too high they have had only one recourse to be able to produce products that people will buy and that's to export our jobs. If companies didn't have to pay employees so much they could keep jobs here and make products at an affordable price. Sadly this will never change from this point forward. If the economy ever recovers we will then be hit with inflation which will cause the cost of living to go back up and eventually further than it was before. This will then lead to more jobs disappearing while we sit back and wonder how is this happening? If apartments and homes were affordable we could watch our economy grow and recover. People would have more money to spend on products, more jobs would return, and their be more revenue to tax to help make up for the trillions congress has pissed away. Another issue I won't even get into is how much our government wastes on pseudo wars and how this country still makes trillions a year in it's GDP yet we have no money left. What is happening to this country will not change anytime soon as we are stuck in a system that is proving itself to not work for the long term. We may slowly come out of this and start to show signs of recovery but overall we will never have long periods of economic stability as our whole system is flawed. If you think I'm way off base about this just look at the history of recessions and depressions since the 20s and take a look at the surpluses we've had at times and then subsequent deficits.

John of NH 7:56PM March 28, 2011

Mary Hotaling... No one has a "right" to own anything. You have a right to work and earn a home. If the McDonald's worker could afford a home you couldn't afford to go to McDonald's! This entire economic mess that we're in right now started with cheap money and liar loans all designed so that "Everybody can have the American dream". No... Everybody doesn't have a right to own a house... Look around... You'll see the catastrophic results of people owning homes that couldn't afford them.

Dick Milde of SC 7:15PM March 28, 2011

Most people are savvy about the monthly expense of renting versus buying. There are many young well paid people who have no interest in buying when they see house prices going down and rents still below mortgage/tax/insurance and HOA(in some cases).
A rise in rents is a supply/demand proposition, as soon as it makes sense the buyers will enter the market, which will push down supply, and start upward pressure on house prices.
New home construction will continue to lag due to over supply, and existing homes will be where people buy because they can get the best deals initially, until the over-supply dwindles down to let the cost of new construction be attractive.

Greg LaRue of CA 5:23PM March 28, 2011

There writer forgets that the American Dream (American Right) of owning a home is being shipped overseas. More people are renting because that's only what the workers of the new economy (service workers at McDonalds) can afford. You need at least a middle class income to afford a house.

Mary Hotaling of NY 4:58PM March 28, 2011