Rentals are key to market

Editor's note: This article is a sidebar to Social Networks Assist Downtown Rebirth

Renaissance Downtown reports: Rental options will drive the early phases of residential construction as value is built for for-sale opportunities in the future. This is true for the following reasons:

• new rental housing is the linchpin of urban redevelopment and should be introduced to the market as quickly as possible.

• rental apartments are required for the establishment of “critical mass,” because rentals are absorbed at higher rates than for-sale units.

• rentals are the fastest way to bring a large number of households to a downtown.

• rentals allow households to experiment with living in an area without the mortgage commitment of home ownership.

• Declining home values create a lack of confidence in the for-sale market.

• renters form a pool of potential purchasers of forsale condominiums, and townhouses that can be built in later phases, when the market has recovered.