TheStreet reports the one of the best investments outside the stock and bond market is in multi-family housing. A report by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies says from 2006 to 2010, the number of renter households increased by 692,000 per year while owner households fell 201,000 annually. Real estate research firm Reis, Inc., says the rental vacancy rate fell 5.9 percent in Q2 2011, the lowest since 2006. Meanwhile, the percentage of homeowners fell to 66 percent in the same period, the lowest since 1998 and down from a high of 69 percent in late 2004, right before the housing bust began. With financing difficult to obtain for new construction, mortgage rates low, demand increasing, and the ever present threat of inflation, rental rates will rise, making multi-family housing a solid investment.
