Housing Hunger Games

Can't find an affordable place to buy or even rent? You're not alone. In the Memphis area, it's been insane. Since the pandemic began, home prices and rents have drastically risen. And a new analysis from the Shelby County Property Assessors Office found out-of-town investors are scooping up thousands of properties. "It's the Hunger Games of housing. How did we get to a place like this where you can't provide people with the basics of shelter?" said Roshun Austin, an Affordable Housing Advocate.

Austin began developing the Renaissance at Steel apartments in Frayser at the beginning of the pandemic. Austin said the 150 unit affordable housing complex filled up in 90 days because the demand for affordable rentals was so great. "People were waiting for them to be built because they needed somewhere to stay," he added.

Austin leads The Works Community Development Corporation and said our area is short about 40,000 quality affordable rental units. Javier Bailey, CAO of the Shelby County Property Assessor office, said there is another problem. Investors are buying up single family homes in Shelby County at a rapid rate. "The supply of affordable quality housing in this city is literally being depleted at an enormous pace," said Bailey. Bailey said a recent analysis of homes sales found in the past two years, 7,000 single family homes in Shelby County have been purchased by out-of-town investors and turned into rentals. 

Many of the homes were purchased by large investment firms in mass quantity, and those groups are raising rents. According to the county analysis, in the past two years, Cerberus Capital Management bought more than 1,400 local homes. Another called Pretium Partners picked up just over 1,300. Homes SFR Borrower LLC bought 905, and American Homes 4 Rent bought 450.  "That's startling to me. That's startling because what that means is local income levels are having to complete with multi-million and billion dollar investment funds," said Bailey.

Bailey said out-of-town investors buying up so many homes has affected not only the price of homes sales, but the price of rental homes and apartments.  "If this trend continues - within the next two years, most people in Memphis will not be able to purchase a home. They will be forced to rent. And with rents, they are going to pay almost double what they would have paid for the same home in a mortgage," said Bailey. "Those people who have traditionally lived in apartment communities will now be competing against higher income levels for the apartment supply." Bailey said Property Assessor Melvin Burgess and other Shelby County leaders are looking to find possible solutions to slow the number of investor purchases, in hopes of putting the breaks on the problem. However Bailey added, "You can't stop someone from buying a house." The question, Bailey said, is what else can be done.

Memphis rents are hitting their highest level according to Realtor.com. One reason for the price hike according to economists and realtors, the shortage of affordable housing is forcing more homebuyers into the rental market. Stephen Ford, with the Carter Group in Memphis is not surprised to see the numbers are climbing. According to Realtor.com, the median rent in Memphis is $1,150, up 23% from June 2020. The Realtor.com data also found the median price of a studio in Memphis is $995, $1,125 for a one bedroom and $1210 for a two bedroom. "It doesn't surprise me but it's disappointing because there is a lot you can do with $1200 on the purchase side, if there is anything to buy, but there is nothing to buy so everyone is being shoved into the rental market, " said Stephen Ford, realtor.

Ford operates The Carter Group, a Memphis based real estate company that also manages rentals. Ford agreed, a lack on inventory for buyers is a contributing factor to rising rents. Ford also said, Memphis is a heavy investor town so thousands of properties are owned by in-and-out-of-state investors. Large companies are more prone to raise rates Ford said compared to "mom and pop" landlords. Ford said he rarely raises rent on a tenant unless there is a reason to do so such as an increase property taxes or when a unit is vacated. "When you have a long term tenant its counter productive to raise the rent because if you have a good tenant you don't want to run them off," said Ford.

According to Realtor.com, the U.S. median rental price grew 8.1% year-over-year in June to a new high of $1,575. Also, according to the company's news release, rents in 44 of the 50 largest U.S. markets reached the highest levels in two years. According to the Realtor.com data, only Riverside, California saw a higher rent increase year to year at 24%. The median rent there is $2112. Nashville/Davidson County saw a 7.3 % increase according to the data, the median rent is $1416. Nashville has seen home prices and rents increase in the community for several years according to experts, while Ford said Memphis has had a low cost of living over the years compared to other cities, and he added that could be one reason for the sharp increase. "On the face it may seem like it would be a pretty stiff increase. Historically, Memphis rents have been a little depressed so it might be that some of the increases are connected to catching up with a normal market," said Ford.

"It is really hard to find a place right now, prices are sky rocketing, " said Austin Smith, renter. Smith lives near the University of Memphis had said he has been looking for an affordable place to live for months. "The markets that are seeing the biggest rent increases tend to be the most affordable, so rent in Memphis is up substantially compared to last year bunt its still more affordable that the U.S. overall," said Danielle Hale, Realtor.com Economist. Hale added, "We're seeing rental vacancies remain historically low and what that means is there are not a lot of empty units sitting available so landlords aren't feeling like they have to bargain."