Fox News contributor Marc Thiessen told “Varney & Company” that under Biden and Harris, Americans have gone from the highest personal savings rate in history to the highest levels of debt ever.
As apartment rentals across the country stagnate, landlords are adding “perks” to entice more tenants to rent their properties.
CNN reports: News reports last week detailed how landlords in some of the country’s largest metropolitan areas are trying to entice potential tenants by offering extra perks like free parking and rent discounts.
“They’re offering a lot of deals and incentives to make the property more attractive,” Orphée Divongay, senior economist at Zillow.com, told CNN.
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In a sluggish market, landlords are adding perks and “extras” to their property listings to attract tenants. (Joe Raedl/Getty Images/Getty Images)
The media reported that an increasing number of landlords are offering extra perks and discounts as “apartment properties are staying on the market longer, vacancy rates are rising and rent growth is slowing.”
Real estate site Zillow recorded that the percentage of rentals offering such perks has risen by about 10 percentage points, from 25.4% last July to 33.2% now.
These deals are most prevalent in several major U.S. cities, including Raleigh, Charlotte, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Nashville, and Austin. At least 50% or more of the rental property listings in each of these cities come with perks.
CNN spoke to several young renters who said they were inundated with promotions and deals when they were looking for their next home. “Honestly, every apartment I was looking at had a promotion,” Natalie Garcia, a 23-year-old graduate student from Arizona, told the outlet.
She added that she and her boyfriend settled into a one-bedroom apartment in Scottsdale and got half off their first month’s rent. “The discount was a bonus,” she said.
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On Orchard Street in the Lower East Side neighborhood of New York City, New York, traditional row houses are now luxury rental apartments. (Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images) / Getty Images)
Another young couple in the state reported they were given a free month of rent on their two-bedroom apartment after they offered to fix a broken fence when they moved in. “We got really lucky,” Riley Dunham, 23, told CNN, adding, “We probably would have gotten free rent anyway.”
While these rental perks are helpful for prospective tenants, housing costs remain high and rising: The Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded housing costs rising 5.1% over last year, a much lower rate than the 22.3% increase that occurred during the pandemic.
CNN said the slower price growth was due to an “apartment construction boom” that has resulted in “a shift in power in favor of renters.”
Landlords are struggling to fill vacancies, which is causing a surge in deals and offers on property listings.
“By being proactive, informed and aware of their influence, tenants can make the most of the perks their landlords have to offer,” DiBongi told the outlet.
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