Shortage Leads To Central Ohio Apartment Boom

David Young knows first hand that a good apartment can be hard to find, 10TV’s Jerry Revish reported on Wednesday. 

Young has been on the hunt for two months and has looked primarily in Victorian Village and the Short North.

"I thought it would be a lot easier, but it's not," Young said.

Young said that he learned what real estate experts know – there is a shortage of apartment housing.

Real estate experts said that some landlords were holding open houses for apartments.

“They’re telling five to 10 other people to come at the exact same time,” Young said.

Rob Vogt of Vogt Santer Insights, a real estate market research firm, carefully watches real estate trends, Revish reported.

"This great recession came along and chased a lot of those folks back into apartments as they went through the foreclosure process," Vogt said.

Vogt said that as the job market picked up, more young adults left their parents' homes for their own places.

"They're putting off marriages. They're co-habitating.  They're just not ready to own a home at this point.  And that's one group. The other big group is empty nesters,"  Vogt said.

In many parts of town, potential renters outnumber apartments, according to Vogt.

The hottest areas are downtown, the Short North and the suburban cities along the north outerbelt.

Because of the shortage, Vogt said that rents are rising, and probably will continue to rise for five to seven years. The shortage also triggered an apartment building boom.  Vogt said that 4,000 to 5,000 new apartments will go up within the next three years.

Developer Gary Schottenstein opened a complex in Hilliard last year.

"(We built) 314 units out here, and we were fortunate to lease them all within basically a 13-month period," said Schottenstein, who also said that his company has a waiting list of renters.

Schottenstein, like many developers, is building new types of amenities into apartment complexes to please the 21st-century renter.  While they include the pools and playgrounds of a generation ago, his Hilliard complex also boasts a community garden where renters can grow their own vegetables and a large fitness room.

"We have a dog park in the back, which is unusual.  A fenced-in dog park. We have a car wash that's free with the rent," Schottenstein said.

Vogt said that many people want high-end finishes, no maintenance and the flexibility to move on short notice, as opposed to a potentially long wait to sell a house.  Vogt said that he thought more people may choose rent over home ownership in the future.

"We are seeing huge lifestyle changes coming up over the next several years," Vogt predicted.

Watch 10TV News and refresh 10TV.com for more information.