The rush to rent is on
It’s tough to find an apartment as supply dwindles and rents rise
Apartment communities are rising and filling at the fastest rate in at least a decade in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, a new report shows.
“We still need more residential Downtown,” City Manager Milton Dohoney told Enquirer editors and reporters on Wednesday.
The demand for rentals is so strong that it’s expected to continue for years. Even the thousands of apartments expected in the next several years may not be enough.
Downtown and Over-the-Rhine are increasingly appealing to “renters by choice” – those who could buy a house but prefer to rent because of the convenience, mobility and other factors. The apartment vacancy rate Downtown is about 2 percent, with the few new developments such as Current at The Banks reporting a waiting list since shortly after opening.
Chris Pope, 27, and Emily Lennon, 25, moved to Current from a Blue Ash apartment in October. Rent on the two-bedroom is a little over $2,000 a month with an extra parking space – a third more than they paid for more square footage and a balcony in Blue Ash.
“When we’re young we wanted to be where the action is,” said Pope, who works Downtown at Cincinnati Bell. “Financially it might not be the best move …”
“But you only live once,” Lennon said. “It’s so much easier to be social.”
Apartments popping up everywhere
• Current at The Banks, phase 2: 300 units between Second Street and Freedom Way, Downtown; Carter and the Dawson Co.