New lease on renting

Report bodes well for apartment market that’s showing signs of improvement here

Nationwide numbers bode well for the local apartment market.

A national report on renters bodes well for the apartment market, which in Houston is already showing signs of improvement.

A higher percentage of U.S. households are headed by renters than at any point since at least 1965, in part a result of the lingering effects from the housing bust, a Pew Research Center analysis shows. The percentage of households renting rose to just under 37 percent in 2016, compared with 31.2 percent in 2006.

“The current renting level exceeds the recent high of 36.2 percent set in 1986 and 1988 and approaches the rate of 37 percent in 1965,” the study said.

While adults younger than 35 — the age group historically more apt to rent — continue to do so, older Americans are renting at higher rates than in the past.

The percentage of renters has risen among those age 35 to 44. In 2016, about two of every five households (41 percent) headed by someone in this age range were renting, up from 31 percent in 2006. The percentage also went up for those between 45 to 64.

The study also showed that black and Hispanic households continue to be about twice as likely as white households to rent their homes.

But unlike previous trends, renting is being seen more across all levels of education, with rates increasing among households headed by those without high school degrees, as well as those headed by college graduates.

To be sure, there aren’t more renters because people don’t want to buy homes.

In a 2016 Pew survey, 72 percent of renters said they want to buy a house at some point.

Paul Cummings, a Houston renter quoted in a recent Chronicle story about the rental market, said he still has aspirations to buy, but sellers seem to have the upper hand in most of the neighborhoods he likes.

“If I thought this was a long-term thing,” he said of renting, “I’d probably unsubscribe from or tear up all my Zillow preferences. I still take pleasure in looking at houses.”

“The current renting level exceeds the recent high of 36.2 percent set in 1986 and 1988 and approaches the rate of 37 percent in 1965.” Pew Research Center analysis on renters

Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle Construction continues in May at an apartment complex along Loop 336 in Conroe. A new study shows that almost two of every five U.S. households is headed by a renter.