Looking for a place to rent in Rhode Island? Renting may not be so much cheaper than buying… despite the high prices of homes today as compared to 5 or 6 years ago…

Seems the gig is up… Rhode Island is now ranked as the fourth least affordable STATE to rent an apartment in the country! Rhode Island!!! Fourth!!!

According to one source, Renters must earn $19.36/hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment in the state, according to Out of Reach 2006, the annual survey of rental affordability released by the National Low Income Housing Coalition. A household needs the equivalent of almost three full-time minimum wager earners to afford the rent.

But is this the fact? Believe it or not, the report actually understates the problem. The National Low Income Housing Coalition used “fair market rents,” which are set by the federal government. Rhode Island is different… Rhode Island Housing’s 2005 rental survey found that average two-bedroom units advertised for $1,147, higher than the fair market rent of $1,007 as quoted in the previously mentioned survey. HousingWorks RI’s analysis of affordability used the local data and found that Rhode Islanders must earn $22.06 to afford the average two-bedroom apartment (which would make Rhode Island the fourth least affordable state).

Check out the Out of Reach report or the Providence Journal’s coverage of the report.

I find this astounding… There is good reason for this, I suppose… I just cant figure it out… shortage of rental spaces? Huge booming demand? Great growth in high end jobs driving the price up? More likely that pay remains low and property values increased, dragging rents with them… now “least affordable” sounds right… of course, we have some nice rental properties, propertly priced, on our Rhode Island website

Dont think so.

Housing prices blew through the sound barrier over the past few years, and it seems so did rents, which in the multifamily properties we sold over the past few years, did not cover the mortgage note payments…

I am concerned this will not bode well for the coming year in real estate market trends…