The facts on the ground do not support the hype over the massive increase in Portland apartment rents, as reported by your newspaper.
• First, the idea that there’s been a 40 percent increase in rent in five years was based on an analysis of two months of listings for two-bedroom apartments. But there are 8,497 one-, two- and three-room rental units in the city and only 5,509 four-room units. Your survey has a sampling fault.
• Second, increased rents require increased income. Median household income in Portland in 2014 was $59,573, not at the boom 2007 level of $61,650. Yes, there was a 7.58 percent increase in real median household income in the city between 2012 and 2014, but we are just returning to our old levels.
• Finally, the Maine State Housing Authority determined in 2011 that fair-market rent for a two-bedroom unit in Portland was $1,121, and in your own article in 2015 (“No Vacancy: Landlords capitalize on ‘insane’ market,” Nov. 15), you quote landlord Adam Rice as saying he had two-bedroom units available for $1,200. That is not 40 percent higher. This makes me wonder who is benefiting from all the hype.
William Church
Portland
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