SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) -Rising interest rates may be cooling the hot housing market, and ideally, the cost of rent should fall, but experts said with the supply shortages so low, that rule simply doesn’t work.
“I am couch surfing, going to stay with my daughter my brother my sister-in-law it’s just frustrating, no place to call home,” said a Springfield woman.
This Springfield woman, who doesn’t want to go on camera, has been looking for an apartment since April, with no luck.
“I put in so far I think 37 applications,” she said.
37 applications, and still nowhere to live, even though she said she meets all the rental requirements.
“Our income is over the amounts and just nobody calls back,” she said.
This woman said she’s looking for a two-bedroom apartment that allows cats, a quick search on the housing site Zillow, found only one apartment available that fits these parameters.
“It’s a terrible shortage and it’s simple economics, supply and demand,” said real estate broker Rober Raymond.
Raymond told Western Mass News it all comes down to a lack of inventory and the pandemic housing boom.
“People are now becoming renters who are formally owners because they are cashing out on capitalizing on the market and they’re putting further pressure on an already decimated market,” said Raymond.
The fed, raising interest rates again this week to cool inflation could put even more stress on the rental market.
“For everyone point that rates go up, 10% of the buyers in the housing market fall out and consequently, they remain renters,” Raymond said.
Prices should remain high, with rent rising 12 to 20 percent in the last year alone. He said those looking for an apartment need to make their applications stand out.
“It’s the luck of the draw it really is and you’ve got to work hard and try to have a good credit history, good rental background history, good job history or guarantors,” explained Raymond.
The apartment seeker we spoke with said she will keep trying, but it won’t be long until she outstays her welcome.
“Thank God I do have some good friends and family I mean at this point we’re almost considering moving out of state it’s just getting so bad,” she said.
Raymond said you can widen your search, with more affordable options in the hilltowns and Franklin County, but finding a place will take patience.
“Cross your fingers, you got a find usually an inside track on something because once the world knows about it they all come crowding into the same door,” Raymond said.
The median rent in Springfield is $1,450 well below the average rent in the state of Mass., which is $2,500.
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