PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Rent is up in almost every section of the city, like Manayunk, where resident Frank says he’s being priced out. His housing costs are up more than 15% compared to last year.
“I’m not paying that,” he said. “No, I can’t. I can’t afford that.” His one-bedroom apartment has gone from $1,300 a month to more than $1,500. Now, he said he needs to find a roommate.
“Everything is skyrocketing,” he said. “Rents raising from $100 to $200 in a year is kind of ridiculous.”
The data bears out Frank’s experience. According to research by CoStar Group and The Washington Post, rents spiked last year nationally by a record 11.3%. According to another more recent study by rent.com, rent for a one-bedroom in Philadelphia is up 18%, running close to $2,000 a month.
A big reason: Demand for housing is outstripping supply. Kevin Gillen, an economist at Drexel University, said that’s even with all the new development happening.
“Because almost all of the new product building is fairly high-end luxury product,” he explained. “When you just add more high-priced units to the market, mathematically, it can drag average rents up.”
According to that Washington Post study, rent spikes are actually worse in the Philly suburbs.
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Elizabeth, who Iives near Suburban Square in Ardmore, though, has been fortunate compared to her neighbors.
“I’ve only seen a $25 increase in rent,” she said. “It was expensive to begin with, but small increase. I know people who have had hundreds of dollars. I’m one of the lucky ones.”
Danny Johnson from Germantown hasn’t been as lucky. “Right now, I pay about $1,650 and it definitely went up about $200.”
He said that makes it almost impossible to afford basics like food and transportation. His solution: Move out.
“I think that’s what they want us to do,” he added.
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For some, buying a home may be an alternative, but prices there have been surging even faster.
“Same thing,” said Gillen. “Renters are looking to move up to homes, but house prices have grown even faster than rents over COVID. Home prices in Philly are up 31% over the past two years. So we’ve seen house prices triple.”
Gillen does, however, believe relief is on the horizon.
“I think we’re heading to a cooling phase,” he said. “We haven’t seen prices dropping yet and could be a while before we see that. But we are seeing deceleration in prices, sales dropping in the suburbs and leveling off in the city.”
Until then, renters like Thaddeus Patterson of Germantown are in consensus.
“The rent is too darn high.”
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