I don't get it.

The WSJ might have typed too quickly:

In the apartment market, the "shadow market" of unsold homes offered for rent continues to keep renters out of apartments. Otherwise it is a strong market for landlords. They continue to benefit from the housing slowdown that has created more renters and led existing renters to defer homeownership given the tightened mortgage market.

Renters are not going into apartments but somehow landlords have a strong market? Or is it that there are a lot of landlords right now? ;)

I usually really like the WSJ, this time I think the reporters tripped over their fingers.

later in the article:
"Rental demand hasn't really picked up in relation to the falling home sales, which implies that people are doubling up or tripling up or moving back with their parents," says Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors. He expects that to change in the near-term, in part because "it's not sustainable to keep adding roommates."

We have more bedrooms per capita than ever. So actually, it is sustainable to fill up those McMansions... For YEARS!

I should be nicer, most of the article is on retail and the predicted surplus of retail space for a long time. :) But sometimes you read something and go "huh?"

Got Popcorn?
Neil