Are apartments being hurt by the nascent housing recovery?
Some economists say that government efforts to prop up the housing market with an $8,000 tax credit for first-time buyers and low mortgage rates are exacerbating the downturn for the multifamily industry. But executives for real-estate investment trusts that own apartments say that they’re only seeing a modest uptick in move-outs from renters who buy homes. That’s partly because mortgage standards are much tighter today. During the 2002 recession, apartments struggled because renters were leaving in droves to buy homes, lured by low mortgage rates and easy mortgages.
