To Buy or Not to Buy? Recession Fears Push Sellers and Builders Into Rental Market

As homebuyer demand continues to fall from record highs, sellers and home builders are shifting their focus to the rental market. In order to attract wary buyers in a cooling market, builders and sellers are lowering their prices and offering concessions, but many are instead finding more success by moving into the for-rent market, MarketWatch reports.

In states like California, home prices are beginning to fall in overheated markets, and rather than bargaining with budget-conscious buyers, sellers are finding strong demand among renters, while builders are working to boost supply on single-family homes for rent.

“There are a lot of builders that believe that the for-rent market can offer a hedge to a slowing housing market,” Ali Wolf, chief economist at Zonda, told MarketWatch. 

“There are builders that weren’t that active in the for-rent space a couple of years ago that are now working to build single-family homes for rent,” she added, “because they say we can offer the home, the location, the school district in some cases, all to a consumer without them having to worry about the down payment.”