Feature News

CHICAGO, Oct. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- The increasing number of housing foreclosures seen across the nation have turned more homeowners toward the rental market. In fact, the percentage of renters has increased to 32.2 percent from 30.9 percent while homeownership fell to 67.8 percent this year from 69.1 percent in 2005.(1) This represents the sharpest decline in homeownership in 20 years and the highest number of renters since 2002, when President George W. Bush started a campaign to expand homeownership.(2)

In response to this ongoing surge of renters, Apartments.com conducted a national survey for the renter point-of-view on the upcoming presidential election.(3) One week away from casting their ballots, renters surveyed revealed that nearly 60 percent are backing Barack Obama for president and the top issue on their minds is the national economy. John McCain received 23 percent of renters' votes followed by 9 percent who preferred not to answer the question and 6 percent who are undecided.

Sixty-nine percent of renters surveyed consider themselves to be tuned into current national and worldwide events and issues followed by 28 percent who said they are "somewhat" familiar. While many renters believe U.S. health care, national security and the environment to be major issues facing the nation, the U.S. economy topped the list when asked to select from a list of multiple issues. An overwhelming majority of 90 percent of renters surveyed placed the national economy as the most important issue among their top three followed by health care at 59 percent and the Iraq War at 53 percent. Other issues significant to renters are the environment and alternative fuel and energy options at 45 percent, education at 29 percent and rights for women and gays at 17 percent.

Renters vote in presidential elections. Forty percent of the renters surveyed consider themselves "very" politically active and 22 percent who do not would like to become more active. This is no exception when it comes to the presidential election. Even 32 percent of renters who do not consider themselves to be "very" active in politics vote in presidential elections. This becomes even more apparent as 96 percent of renters said they are registered voters and 98 percent of those registered will vote in the presidential election on November 4, 2008. Sixty-five percent of voters are planning to vote within their political party while 9 percent will vote outside and 7 percent are undecided.

Renters who need to know where to cast their ballet for the presidential election on November 4, 2008 can find their polling place by visiting http://tinyurl.com/6362ee and entering their home address and zip code.

As part of its monthly "What Renters Want" research series, Apartments.com surveys renters on various topics. For more information on this survey about the upcoming presidential election or to receive a copy of additional survey results, please contact Tammy Kotula at tkotula@apartments.com.

    Sources:
    1 -- U.S. Census data through the end of March, 2008
    2 -- Rise in the Number of Renters Erases a Decade's Gain in Home
         Ownership, The New York Times, June 21, 2008
    3 -- Methodology: The Apartments.com "What Renters Want" survey was
         conducted by email and answered by 1,110 apartment renters within the
         United States between Tuesday, October 21 to Thursday, Oct. 23, 2008

About Apartments.com

Apartments.com is the most visited national apartment Internet listing subscription service with more than 50,000 unique addresses representing more than three million rental units from managed properties, newspaper classifieds and for-rent-by-owner properties. With personalized searches, highly visual ads featuring Walk Through Video, Apartments.com Anywhere mobile solutions, 360-degree virtual tours, professional photography, and comprehensive community listings, Apartments.com makes it possible for renters to access apartment rental inventory from across town or across the country. Leads from highly qualified ready-to-rent prospects are delivered to Apartments.com customers, increasing closure rates and decreasing the average cost of leasing an apartment. The Web site's foundation of solid partnerships with the local newspaper and television station Web sites of more than 10,000 newspaper affiliate and strategic partners across the country include Yahoo! Real Estate, AOL Real Estate, Univision (http://www.univision.com), the Chicago Tribune (http://www.chicagotribune.com), The Washington Post (www.washingtonpost.com) and the Los Angeles Times (http://www.latimes.com). Apartments.com is a division of Chicago-based Classified Ventures, LLC.