Here’s Why More Folks Are Choosing To Live With Family and Friends
High mortgage rates and high home prices along with increases for renters are creating an environment where more people are making the choice to live with family and friends. This is according to an article posted on the KHQA website.
I understand why too, the cost of everything seems to just keep going, up, up, and up. The cost of gasoline, the cost of groceries, the cost of eating out, a cocktail. Everything is more expensive these days. So I completely understand why some folks are choosing to live with family or friends.
I'm not sure I could do that anymore. At least not by choice, when it comes to moving in with friends to share the costs of a home. I did that after college, and overall, it was a good experience. Yet after a few years, I was done. I was ready to move on and have my own place.
No more shared bathroom, or shared kitchen. Or dealing with the idiosyncracies and habits they bring to a shared living situation for me. That's probably not a problem for some folks. Yet, I always liked my own space, and much of the time I had roommates I kept to my bedroom a lot. That's just what I did.
Family, that might be a little different. I think I could do that. There's something about that familial bond I think that makes a difference. Or maybe I feel that way today because I've lived the majority of the past twenty years away from my family and I am relishing whatever time I get to spend with them these days.
So if you're trying to buy your own place right now, or you're thinking about how much your rent will go up the next time you have to sign your lease, what are you dealing with?
According to the article from KHQA the benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage is the highest it's been in 30 years. That combined with higher sale prices has caused the demand for loans to be the lowest since 1997 and the supply of homes for sale to stagnate.
As far as getting yourself into a rental, there's a little bit of good news. Rental prices are still expensive, and the only way to address that is to increase supply. However, rents may be coming down a little bit as the demand for apartments decreases. In fact, according to KHQA, rental technology platform RealPage says it's the first time they noticed a third-quarter decline in demand for apartments.
The bottom line is, if you're looking for your own place, expect to pay more. Or you could find a roommate or two.