Apartment Look

BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts’ booming economy is bringing with it a downside for those looking to rent an apartment or buy a home in the state: soaring housing costs , particularly in the greater Boston area . The problem isn’t new, but it’s more acute in places where the economy has taken off, spurred by a surge in the life sciences sector and the arrival of top companies like General Electric to the state. That upward pressure is one reason why Beacon Hill leaders are continuing to look for ways to create new affordable housing units while preserving existing units . Gov. Charlie Baker this week announced $72 million in housing subsidy funds and additional state and federal tax credits to 25 projects across the state. The goal is to help create, refurbish and preserve 1, 970 housing units , including units reserved for low- income families and families making their way out of homelessness. Advertisement “Safe and affordable housing is a cornerstone to the success of our commo...

The Bay State’s booming economy is bringing with it a downside for those looking to rent an apartment or buy a home in the state: soaring housing costs , particularly in Greater Boston. The problem isn’t new, but it’s more acute in places where the economy has taken off, spurred by a surge in the life sciences sector and the arrival of top companies like General Electric. That upward pressure is one reason why Beacon Hill leaders are continuing to look for ways to create new affordable housing units while preserving existing units . Gov. Charlie Baker this week announced $72 million in housing subsidy funds and additional state and federal tax credits to 25 projects across the state. The goal is to help create, refurbish and preserve 1, 970 housing units , including units reserved for low- income families and families making their way out of homelessness. “Safe and affordable housing is a cornerstone to the success of our commonwealth’s families, including access to job opportu...

SEATTLE , Aug. 24, 2017 / / -- Home values are setting new records in about half of the country's largest metros, and the national median home value is now $4,100 more than it was in April 2007 , just before the market crashed , according to the July Zillow® Real Estate Market Report i . Home values in Denver , Dallas and San Jose have appreciated most beyond the previous record-highs set at the peak of the housing bubble in the mid-2000s. Homes in Denver are almost 60 percent more valuable now than during the bubble, increasing from a median home value of $235,900 in April 2006 to a current median home value of $371,100 . When the housing market crashed , home values plummeted and it has taken about 10 years for home values to reach new record highs. Strong labor markets and steady income growth have pushed up home values in the nation's hottest markets more quickly than in others. Among the 35 largest housing markets , 15 ii have higher median home values tha...

NEW YORK, Aug. 16, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Key facts: -- Rent growth far outpaced incomes in New York City. City-wide asking rents increased by 33 percent from 2010 to 2017, or 3.9 percent annually, while median wages grew at less than half that pace: 13 percent since 2010, or 1.8 percent annually. -- The lowest- priced rents increased the most. Homes with the lowest rents in NYC grew 4.9 percent annually, while the highest- price rentals grew just 3 percent per year. -- The lowest earners faced the smallest wage growth . Wages for NYC workers in the bottom fifth of earners saw the smallest annual increases since 2010, while wages for top- earning professions grew the most. Despite rents rising over the past year at their slowest pace since the end of the recession, rent growth in New York City has continued to outpace wage growth , increasing the financial burden on New York City renters . According to the latest StreetEasy rent affordability report (i), rent increases are outpac...

East Seventh Street ."> East Seventh Street ." /> A row of buildings on East Seventh Street . View Full Caption Landmarks Preservation Commission MANHATTAN —  Millennials, be forewarned before moving to the Big Apple: You'll need a roommate, you'll likely pay at least $1,000 a month, and don't bet on settling in Manhattan. Nearly 72 percent of Millennials shared their home with someone other than their partner in 2016, according to a report from New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer . And now is the time of year that many of these young New Yorkers are searching for new digs. The third week of August tends to the busiest single week for renters because of the flood of college students coming to New York and recent grads starting new jobs in September, according to the roommate- search app SpareRoom . The city’s streets around universities such as NYU, Columbia and Barnard will soon be cordoned off on Aug. 27 for the annual rite of “move-in day,” wh...

{Zillow} Great news? According to Zillow’s May 2017 Rental Market Overview , Skinker DeBaliviere has shown the largest increase of any St. Louis neighborhood in annual rents, a 12.9 percent gain. The only other neighborhoods where rents grew by more than 10 percent in the last year were Vandeventer (11.2 percent), and Tiffany (10.3). Notably, the increase in rents in our neighborhood was also higher than any town in the St. Louis Metro area , including towns in St. Charles County and Metro East in Illinois. People clearly want to live here, and we are on a roll. If you own rental properties in the neighborhood, this news might make you feel like breaking out the champagne. It also might give you some second thoughts about selling when you get those unsolicited letters from real estate operators asking to buy your home, as so many of us on my block seem to. If you own property in the neighborhood, then what’s not to like? {Zillow} Well, even if you like and will benefit from higher r...

Heather Smith says affordable housing isn 't always affordable. The single mother of two said when her $880-per-month rent in southeast Rochester jumped by $85 in the second year, it left her struggling to pay for rent and food, even though she has good job at Zumbro Valley Health Center . "Why am I not able to afford the basics I need to live?" she asked during Tuesday's community meeting held by CURE — Communities United for Rochester's Empowerment — a social action group affiliated with SEIU Healthcare. She said the unexpected increase on an already tight budget could have been unbearable without outside family support. "I got a 46-cent raise at work," she said, noting it didn't cover the rent increase, or her rising food costs . "How am I supposed to save for a house?" she said. Homeownership, said Zach Winter, doesn't necessarily solve the problem of a tight budget. He said he bought a house near Silver Lake, which ...

Take a ride on the 8M Metrobus line called Shirley -Duke.But don't expect to find any traces of the old Shirley-Duke -- the notorious, decaying crime- ridden apartment complex that was closed in the late '70s. This is now Foxchase of Alexandria. And, as the trendy Foxchase ads have promised for the past year, it offers "2,113 new leases on living." "That bus is one of the last things left with the Shirley-Duke name," said Leonard Skolnik, property manager of Foxchase, a development that could house 5,000 people, or 5 percent of Alexandria's population. "And I don't think there is anything we can do about that. Though we'd like to . . . ." It has been a year since the first tenants moved into the 87-acre property -- formerly the 200 buildings of the Shirley-Duke and Regina apartments -- between Duke Street and Shirley Highway in the west end of Alexandria. After renovating the interiors of all the buildings, adding balconies to al...

OLD TIMER The Stewart apartments occupy the top two floors of this 1921 building at the corner of Southwest Broadway and Ankeny. Patrick Alexander IN JUNE , the rumors began wafting through the Stewart Apartments like the cigarette smoke that often clouds its halls. The 55-unit building’s long-time manager had passed away on May 28. If no one stepped in to replace him, 66 residents would soon be looking for a place to live—with little hope of finding a suitable spot. The first rumblings of a looming mass eviction came not long after apartment manager Mike Narver ’s death. But by August 11—20 days before Narver’s lease to run the building was set to expire—no one was any clearer on their future. “It’s so back and forth,” said Eddie Grant, a 62-year old resident who clerks the Stewart’s front desk, as he emptied a garbage bin in the building’s lobby last week. “Now I heard we might be out at by the end of the month, or next week.” Marge Appling , a 20-year resident and the building’s...