It seems to be a trend, no thanks to the housing market crash and the recent foreclosure stoppage in most states: former homeowners are turning into renters. And South Florida is following in the trend. The area’s Boward and Palm Beach counties have been seeing fewer empty rental apartments and higher rental rates year after year.

The flurry of foreclosures in the past four years may have scared residents out of owning a home, leading to a boom in the rental housing market. Most new renters are actually former homeowners who have lost their homes to mortgage lenders. There are also a few who have never experienced home ownership and does not want to be tied to a home in the country’s shaky economy.

The boom in rental may not be too good for the United States as home buying is critical in turning the economy around. However even young professionals, who have never come in direct contact of the housing woes, refuse to buy and instead chose to rent. This preference of renting over owning is rooted to job security: these young professionals know that they can lose their jobs any day and that renting makes it easier to walk away from a lease.

The recent foreclosure fraud, which has led to banks and mortgage servicers to freezing foreclosure sales nationwide, has also contributed to the boom in the rental market. Those who might have been on the verge of buying a home may have chosen to postpone doing so.

Reinhold P. Wolff Economic Research in Oakland Park reveals that vacancy rates in South Florida is now at its lowest in the last three years. Boward’s August vacancy rate was down from last year’s 6.8% to 5.5%. Same goes with Palm Beach County, which was at 7.6% last year and is now at 5.1%.

Because of the low vacancy rates, even rental rates are shooting up. The overall average rent in August for Boward was $1,228, a 2% increase from last year’s average rate. In Palm Beach County, there was also a 2% increase to $1,153.

Taking advantage of the rental boom, landlords are now becoming more lenient regarding tenant applications. They have started looking at a prospective tenant’s current ability to pay rather than credit scores. According to them, credit scores do not predict the future.