Experts say a number of factors — some related to the pandemic and others not — are driving up rents in Anchorage and elsewhere. 'The only way it’ll miraculously fix overnight is if half of Anchorage decides to move,' one says.
For renters like Ann Dougherty, finding an affordable place to live has been difficult.
“Then in ‘21 and ‘22, it started going up,” Taggart said. “And in the last six months, it has been going up between 20, 30, 40 percent depending on what kind of rental it is.” Taggart says that impacted more than a third of available rentals. She says another thing driving the rental shortage is a higher number of people looking to buy property rather than rent, which in turn takes more rentals off the market.
Other than that, Taggart says “the only way it’ll miraculously fix overnight is if half of Anchorage decides to move.”