Tenant Stampede Results In Largest-Ever Surge In Rents

Under Biden’s unconstitutional eviction moratorium order, the CDC has mandated thousands of small and medium to drop dead by not only barring them from evicting any deadbeat tenants in the process defying the highest US judicial organ, but also contemplating steep criminal penalties for those who follow this order.

The new 60-day CDC eviction moratorium carries steep criminal penalties for individual landlords who break the law:

– Potential $100k fine and 1 year in jail if eviction doesn’t result in death
– Up to $250k fine and 1 year in jail if evicted person dieshttps://t.co/d0KRACRFUy pic.twitter.com/MVnUQDJQGD

— Joseph Zeballos-Roig (@josephzeballos) August 3, 2021

Meanwhile, as many small landlords continue to go out of business barred from collecting revenue even as costs pile up, Wall Street’s renting giants such as Blackstone will continue to grab market share on the cheap, becoming ever bigger in the process as this WSJ article attests.

But that’s just the beginning: with much of America reopening from covid and a reverse migration into major cities on the rise, Blackstone has a very clear reason to pursue regaining the largest US landlord title: the largest flood of renters in US history are now competing with each other amid record low vacancies – leading to the largest-ever rent increases, and what will be an record cash flow bonanza for Wall Street’s mega landlords.

According to industry consultant RealPage, in the second quarter the number of occupied units jumped by around 500,000, the largest annual increase since records began in 1993 according to  Rents on newly signed leases, meanwhile, jumped by 14.6% last month vs. one year earlier – the most on record, while occupancy reached 96.5%, the highest level in 21 years.

“We’re seeing record low vacancy,” said Jay Parsons, deputy chief economist for RealPage. “Wages are up, people have the money. And people are saying take my money, I want to move in.”

As Bloomberg notes:

The surge confirms what we reported in late June we discussed the biggest rent jump on record according to Apartment List, and crushes any expectations for just a “transitory” inflation hike, because even as the supply chain-driven spike in prices moderates (eventually), it will be replaced with far higher housing prices which contribute to a far higher portion of the CPI basket, resulting in an even bigger spike in year-over-year housing comps which only another change to the composition of the CPI and PCE baskets will be able to sweep under the rug.