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In a depressed housing market, renters abound

By Motoko Rich

 |  New York Times News Service  

  February 24, 2012

The housing market remains a potent drag on the economy as home prices continue to slip, foreclosed homes fill some neighborhoods, and millions of construction workers scramble for jobs. But one group is sitting pretty: landlords. Unlike home prices, rents have been rising, up 2.4 percent in January from a year earlier, according to recent data, not adjusted for inflation, released by the Labor Department. Nationwide, the apartment vacancy rate is down to 5.2 percent, its lowest level in more than a decade,

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