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Kim Drotar is a public school teacher who rents an apartment in St Louis. But she doesn't have the best neighbors.
"They're 19, 20 and have parties and bang on my door in the middle of the night and, you know, just to be jerks," she says.
Drotar's a single mom with a daughter in 5th grade. She's been trying to find a house she can afford to buy.
"I just want some place where she can ride her bike and make friends with the neighbors and play with the kids and they can come over."
But she keeps getting outbid when she makes offers. And now with mortgage rates up sharply she says she's just been priced out completely. Meanwhile, continuing to rent is getting harder to afford, too.
"My rent is increasing 22% this year," she says. "It's harder and harder to save more for a down payment."
A new report from Redfin shows that nationally listed rents for available apartments rose 15% from a year ago. And the median listed rent for an available apartment rose above $2,000 a month for the first time.
Rents are up more than 30% in Austin, Seattle, and Cincinnati. In Los Angeles the median asking rent is $3,400. Even in formerly affordable cities such as Nashville it's now $2,140, up 32% from last year.
https://www.npr.org/2022/06/09/1103...e-above-2-000-a-month-for-the-first-time-ever
"They're 19, 20 and have parties and bang on my door in the middle of the night and, you know, just to be jerks," she says.
Drotar's a single mom with a daughter in 5th grade. She's been trying to find a house she can afford to buy.
"I just want some place where she can ride her bike and make friends with the neighbors and play with the kids and they can come over."
But she keeps getting outbid when she makes offers. And now with mortgage rates up sharply she says she's just been priced out completely. Meanwhile, continuing to rent is getting harder to afford, too.
"My rent is increasing 22% this year," she says. "It's harder and harder to save more for a down payment."
A new report from Redfin shows that nationally listed rents for available apartments rose 15% from a year ago. And the median listed rent for an available apartment rose above $2,000 a month for the first time.
Rents are up more than 30% in Austin, Seattle, and Cincinnati. In Los Angeles the median asking rent is $3,400. Even in formerly affordable cities such as Nashville it's now $2,140, up 32% from last year.
https://www.npr.org/2022/06/09/1103...e-above-2-000-a-month-for-the-first-time-ever