I wish that this article discussed other factors that are causing rents to increase absurdly in other cities as well. In Portland, for example, rents have gone up 20-30% in the last couple of years. Why? I don't know the whole answer, but some possible factors are:

- People who lost their houses recently have trouble qualifying for a mortgage and must rent instead.

- Investors (Wall Street and otherwise) are buying up houses to rent because it's hard to get a good return on your money in other ways.

- There still exists some amount of "shadow inventory" that banks are keeping off of the market, either on purpose or because foreclosing on a house has become more expensive and time consuming.

Source: http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/real-estate/articles/renta...