Fact Check: Kansas City Rent SKYROCKETS For Safe Housing

There's a persistent myth about local affordability that we need to challenge for the sake of readers and the discourse.

National real estate websites hope to lure suckers to Kansas City with promises of housing affordability.

Here's an example of mainstream media taking the bait . . .

The rental share of income was lowest in Kansas City, Mo., at 19.9 percent of income . . . Only two cities (Milwaukee and Kansas City, Mo.) out of the top 50 most populous metro areas saw the median rent decline in February 2022 compared with February 2021, according to the Redfin real estate brokerage.

First of all . . . 

We myth-busted this Redfin data last month . . . But here's the bigger picture . . .

WORSENING CRIME IN KANSAS CITY HAS ALSO DESTROYED "AFFORDABLE" HOUSING FOR THE LOCAL MIDDLE-CLASS!!!

Consider . . .

A great many of those apartment and housing prices are "informed" by high crime neighborhoods that most middle-class buyers are going to skip. 

Our Kansas City tradition . . . Politically incorrect conversations wherein somebody is forced to take aside newbies and tell them about this cowtown's painful history of redlining and its present day impact. Or they could just watch the nightly news for a week and notice where are the killings, deadly stabbings & armed robberies take place.

To be fair . . . 

High-salaried movers & shakers might save a ton of money with a move to the Midwest but they'll sacrifice more than a bit of opportunity by moving away from other people with cash.

And so . . . 

Sadly, it seems that this town's "affordable" housing is a remnant of a bygone era and just another imaginary selling point for desperate real estate agents looking to cash in before the latest housing bubble bursts.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Report: Rental affordability declines nationwide

Placeholder while article actions load Much attention has been focused on double-digit home price increases, rising mortgage rates and higher gas and food prices. But tenants are getting slammed with rent increases, too. Nationally, in the 12-month period that ended in February, rents increased by 17.1 percent to a new average high of $1,792 per month, according to a report from Realtor.com.