This is an interesting datasource for average rents. The few places I'm familiar with, it seems to be a reasonable ballpark indicator.
http://www.huduser.org/portal/datasets/ ... ummary.odn
Does anyone have any similar favorite sources for occupancy rate data and home prices?
rents, home prices, and occupancy data
The Census publishes median contract rent data annually as well. I haven't compared the HUD fair market rents to median contract rent, but my understanding is that HUD rents are generally slightly below market. Take that with a grain of salt though.
I suffered through the annoying American Factfinder UI to grab the latest (2009) median contract rent data:
http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DT ... &-_toggle=
Note: click 'Next' to scroll through the results for all metro areas.
Also, it looks like the link you posted doesn't work. The HUD data you're talking about is accessible here:
http://www.huduser.org/portal/datasets/fmr.html
EDIT: Dang, looks like the forum truncated that long, ugly URL. You'll have to wade through the Factfinder site to get rent data yourself. Pick a year, select 'detailed tables', choose a geography then search for 'median contract rent'
Start here: http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/Da ... ng=en&_ts=
I suffered through the annoying American Factfinder UI to grab the latest (2009) median contract rent data:
http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DT ... &-_toggle=
Note: click 'Next' to scroll through the results for all metro areas.
Also, it looks like the link you posted doesn't work. The HUD data you're talking about is accessible here:
http://www.huduser.org/portal/datasets/fmr.html
EDIT: Dang, looks like the forum truncated that long, ugly URL. You'll have to wade through the Factfinder site to get rent data yourself. Pick a year, select 'detailed tables', choose a geography then search for 'median contract rent'
Start here: http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/Da ... ng=en&_ts=