Renters get little relief as demand increases

The Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2009 shows renters in the region pay an average of $1,629 a month, 11 percent more than four years ago, even though housing values dropped about 18 percent during the same period.

Barry Bluestone, the report’s coauthor, attributed the increase to a growing demand for rentals, as people who lost their houses to foreclosure have moved into apartments, and to a high number of qualified buyers who remain content to rent until the economy stabilizes.

Regional housing specialists are scheduled to meet tomorrow to discuss the report, released by the Boston Foundation and the Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association.

Although rents have fallen about 2 percent since they peaked in the third quarter of 2008, they still strain the finances of many Boston-area residents, the report found.

“Renters still make up 40 percent of the people who live here. They tend to be people who are lower or moderate income or young people,’’ said Bluestone, dean of the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University. “We clobbered them during this recession.’’

Adding to their woes, the median household income of renters has fallen 7 percent since 2000, the report said, while homeowners’ incomes increased 4.7 percent.

The high rental costs, combined with an economic slowdown, has forced more people to become homeless and resulted in growing waiting lists for affordable rental housing, said Aaron Gornstein, executive director of the Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association. At the same time, state and federal programs to assist renters have been cut back, Gornstein said.

“Home prices have come down but rents haven’t,’’ he said. “It’s a very difficult situation for renters.’’

Russell Smith, 38, knows firsthand about the high price of renting. After being laid off as a hotel manager in July, Smith decided to move out of his $1,850 a month South Boston loft to find something more affordable. He and his roommate are considering a two-bedroom South End apartment for $1,600 a month.

“It’s been very hard to find something that is reasonably priced and what we want,’’ said Smith. “There’s a lot of people who have deals out there, but not great deals.’’

The annual report card, which was first published in 2002 when home prices were on the rise, was created to examine how the region deals with housing affordability, said Paul Grogan, chief executive of the Boston Foundation.

Grogan said this year’s report is “sobering’’ because it shows the Boston area is still unaffordable for many people, despite a drop in housing prices since 2005. Compared with Boston, property values in areas such as Miami, Phoenix, and Las Vegas have plummeted an average of about 50 percent during that time.

And as Boston rents have gone up, the gap between prices in the region and those in the nation’s most expensive markets - including Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, and San Francisco - has narrowed, according to the report.

“We are having trouble holding onto our people and trouble creating jobs,’’ said Grogan. “Our relative affordability hasn’t improved.’’

Although rents have started to moderate and some landlords are offering incentives to reduce vacancies, some housing experts don’t expect a prolonged downward trend. Nicolas Retsinas, director of Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, said rents probably will soon increase again because there has been a slowdown in housing construction, and more people unable to buy a home because they are unemployed or unable to get a mortgage are turning to rentals. That kind of market stagnation does not bode well for the rental market, Retsinas said.

“You want an economy that encourages mobility so people can move where the jobs are,’’ he said.

Jenifer McKim can be reached at jmckim@globe.com.