Rents have arrived at a historic high, similar to where they were during the housing bubble of 2008, as ktep.org tells MHProNews, according to statistics from the Commerce Department. The old rule of thumb to never spend more than a third of your income on housing is out the window.

Glenn Kelman, CEO of Redfin real estate company, said more and more people are spending as much as half their income on housing, and this is not sustainable, especially for seniors on fixed incomes. Responding to questions from Mary Louise Kelly of npr, he added while rents and home prices have been rising, and inventory is low, given the state of the economy builders are not borrowing for large developments. Instead they are focusing on urban infill housing with 20-30 units each.

Although capital is tight and/or developers are unsure of being able to attract inhabitants, finding adequate skilled labor is also a problem, which drives the rents. He said, “You’ll see security guards at building sites who aren’t really guarding the lumber. They’re guarding the labor. They’re preventing a recruiter from coming onto the site and taking the whole crew across the street to another place that’s being built for an extra two bucks an hour.”

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(Graphic credit: dailykos)

Article submitted by Matthew J. Silver to Daily business News-MHProNews.