Recent surveys showed that New York has more Americans renting than owning houses. Close to its heels comes Seattle registering an almost 7% jump in the roster of renters over last year's figures. This trend does not show any signs of weakening interest, as more and more people are catching the "renter's fever". For 2007, apartment rentals have skyrocketed between 7 and 8% - a classic example of the law of supply and demand in real estate investment, taking action.

Reasons were varied: others opt to rent instead of owning a home due to many issues that have hounded the real estate industry for the past couple of years, such as escalating housing rates, more stringent standards and procedures on loans, unattractive mortgage packages and foreclosures becoming more rampant, which have triggered fear of embarrassment in the hearts of ordinary Joes. No wonder, landlords are making frequent trips to the bank.

For a newbie mortgage investor, this places him in a dilemma, which investment road to take: finance the purchase of a home or fine-tune his resources to the call of the times, which places financing apartments and condominiums in the league of more viable options? Rather than providing resources for home financing with the prospect of flipping it afterwards, both real estate and mortgage investors, in the past couple of years, have focused more on putting up apartments and condominiums. Not that it was a new trend, but more and more investors who were originally all agog over putting up homes are now taking a second look at this once less-popular route in real estate investment.

At this time, rentals are fetching more money for both real estate and mortgage investors, and the rate this trend is taking, more investors will be joining the bandwagon, soon. However, for a family who wants to establish root in a particular community where children can interact and form solid friendships among neighbors, home ownership is still the best option.

What triggers the latest craze?

In New York City alone, which has become the "melting pot" of the world, where careers and business are pursued by people coming from other states and foreign countries, only 20 % opts for home ownership; 80 % prefers apartment accommodation, for its practical sense. Ranging from the most stylish accommodation to the more "hurried" space typical of the lifestyle of transient businessmen and young professionals who find themselves traveling for most times of the year, rentals have accelerated this year by 8% however, compared to owning a home in New York City, it is still a "dime to a dollar".

This "dime to a dollar" analogy between owning a home and renting an apartment has ripple effect on developers, as well. When there is decline on the demand to purchase homes, naturally developers will look elsewhere for viable options like putting up apartments and condos, and the imminent lack for housing units will heighten the demand in making a leap from owning a home to renting. Either way, an astute Real Estate Investor smells lucrative investment opportunities, even miles away.

So, Where to Invest: Home or Condo?

A newbie real estate investor should consider factors that can have direct impact on people's decision, such as employment opportunities in the locality, economic growth, present supply of housing units, including apartment/condo accommodations, and the prevailing prices of homes or rentals in the locality, and make a thorough assessment, before he jumps on a decision.

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