VOA慢速英语2019 美国富人选择租房而不买房（在线收听）

Wealthy Americans Renting Homes Instead of Buying

A study by the apartment search website RentCafe finds that more wealthy Americans are choosing to rent living spaces instead of buying them.

公寓查找网站Rentcate的一项研究发现，更多美国富人选择租房而不是买房。

The study’s writer, Alexandra Ciuntu, collected information from the U.S. Census Bureau. She found that the number of U.S. households earning at least $150,000 a year that chose to rent increased 175 percent between 2007 and 2017.

该研究的作者亚历山德拉·席翁图(Alexandra Ciuntu)从美国人口普查局收集信息。她发现，2007年到2017年期间，年收入不低于15万美元的美国家庭选择租房的比例提高了175%。

This new kind of renter goes against the idea that Americans rent mostly because they do not have enough money to buy a home.

这种新类型的租房群体推翻了美国人更多选择租房是因为买不起房的想法。

Ciuntu told VOA by email, "Lifestyle plays an important part in their decision to rent."

席翁图通过电子邮件对美国之音表示：“生活型态在他们的租房决策中扮演了重要角色。”

Business and technology centers like San Francisco, California, and Seattle, Washington, have the highest numbers of wealthy renters.

加州旧金山市以及华盛顿州西雅图市等商业和科技枢纽富人租房的人数最多。

In San Francisco, the number of renters grew from 21,000 in 2007 to 71,400 in 2017. That is an increase of 240 percent. The number of wealthy buyers increased by 56 percent -- from 40,100 in 2007 to 62,400 in 2017.

在旧金山，租房人数从2007年的2.1万上升到了2017年的7.14万，增长了240%。富人买房的人数从2007年的4.01万上升到了2017年的6.24万，增长了56%。

Ciuntu says that, with the rise in housing prices, it seems like a better decision to rent than to buy.

席翁图表示，随着房价的上涨，租房似乎比买房更好。

She added, “In San Francisco, for example, $200,000 buys you just 260 square feet [24 square meters]. It's understandable why top earners give renting a serious try before deciding whether to invest in a property or not."

她补充道：“以旧金山为例，20万美元只能买到260平方尺（24平米）的面积。这也说明了为何高收入群体在决定是否投资房产时会认真考虑租房。”

In San Francisco and New York City, wealthy renters outnumber wealthy buyers. There are more high-earning renters — about 250,000 — in New York City than anywhere else in the country.

在旧金山和纽约，富人租房的人数超过了买房的人数。纽约高收入租房者大约有25万人，超过了全国其它任何地方。

But Ciuntu notes that the interest in renting does not mean wealthy Americans are rejecting homeownership. Between 2007 and 2017, Seattle gained 13,400 more wealthy home owners than it did high-income renters. Cities like Chicago and Denver also saw thousands more wealthy homeowners move in than wealthy renters during that 10-year period.

但是席翁图指出，对租房感兴趣并不代表美国富人不愿意买房。在2007年到2017年期间，西雅图高收入群体买房者比租房者多出了1.34万人。在这10年期间，芝加哥和丹佛之类的城市买房的富人也比租房的富人多出数千人。

I’m Jonathan Evans.

Words in This Story

lifestyle – n. a particular way of living; the way a person lives or a group of people live

household – n. the people in a family or other group that are living together in one house