I was walking around the neighbourhood the other day when a historic plaque caught my eye:
…the workingmen’s cottages on Warren Place were among the first planned low-income housing in the nation when they were built in the late 1870’s. At that time, rent for a four-room apartment was $1.93 per week.
Wow! $1.93 a week rent sounds great. But what is that after inflation? According to the inflation calculator, that’s about $37.41 in 2008 (assuming 1875 as a base year). Given that a 1Br goes for about $500 a week around here (and has roughly 4 rooms), if you were a very old person with rent control, you’d be laughing.
Also, if you were a landlord, the difference between $500 and $37 ain’t much of a return. That’s a compound return of only 1.90% over the 130-odd years, meaning you’re doing much better than inflation, but not a whole heckuva lot. You still would have done better in the stock market.