Apartment vacancy rate at its lowest level since 2001

According to an industry report released on Wednesday, the U.S. apartment vacancy rate fell to its lowest level in more than a decade, but persistent stagnant income growth for U.S. workers has tempered the ability of landlords to raise rents.

According to a preliminary report by real estate research firm Reis Inc, the national apartment vacancy rate fell 0.2 percentage points to 4.3 percent in the first quarter, the lowest since the fourth quarter 2001. Rents, in contrast, grew by 0.5 percent, the least increase since the fourth quarter of 2011.

The apartment sector has been the beneficiary of the U.S housing bust, the economic recovery, high mortgage requirements, and a constrained supply of new apartments over the past five years. Equity Residential (EQR.N), Essex Property Trust Inc (ESS.N) and Avalon Bay Communities Inc (AVB.N) to push up rents are the apartment owners that were pushed down the vacancy rate by those factors.

See it more

Giving Money to Your Grandchildren

Nowadays, grandparents are now acting like parents to their grandchildren. “They are taking much responsibilities of parents rather than their duties alone”, financial planners say. N.J., planner Tom Orecchio in Westwood stated that there’s more of this going on than in the past because more of the parents are hurting financially. Columbus, Ohio, planner Gary Vawter also added that Grandparents have a soft spot in giving to their grandkids especially when the parents need less.

In situate to this, Bradley Associates put Grandparents forward to make sure that you have enough saved for yourself before start writing those checks to be able to cover the possible long-term care cost or get through a business downturn and of the future promises which you might be spending too much by making it fixed, such as “$5,000 a year for each grandchild for college. Your family should also understand that the gifts they are receiving on holidays is different from the old or may not come at all.

See it more