[ti:Wealthy Americans Renting Homes Instead of Buying] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.00]A study by the apartment search website RentCafe [00:04.23]finds that more wealthy Americans are choosing [00:07.73]to rent living spaces instead of buying them. [00:12.30]The study's writer, Alexandra Ciuntu, [00:16.24]collected information from the U.S. Census Bureau. [00:21.13]She found that the number of U.S. households [00:25.15]earning at least $150,000 a year that chose [00:30.04]to rent increased 175 percent between 2007 and 2017. [00:38.13]This new kind of renter goes against the idea that Americans rent mostly [00:45.63]because they do not have enough money to buy a home. [00:50.33]Ciuntu told VOA by email, [00:54.04]"Lifestyle plays an important part in their decision to rent." [00:59.95]Business and technology centers like San Francisco, [01:05.61]California, and Seattle, Washington, [01:08.31]have the highest numbers of wealthy renters. [01:11.94]In San Francisco, the number of renters [01:15.99]grew from 21,000 in 2007 to 71,400 in 2017. [01:24.16]That is an increase of 240 percent. [01:29.05]The number of wealthy buyers increased by 56 percent [01:35.03]-- from 40,100 in 2007 to 62,400 in 2017. [01:43.68]Ciuntu says that, with the rise in housing prices, [01:48.35]it seems like a better decision to rent than to buy. [01:53.21]She added, "In San Francisco, for example, [01:57.91]$200,000 buys you just 260 square feet [24 square meters]. [02:05.25]It's understandable why top earners give renting a serious try [02:10.19]before deciding whether to invest in a property or not." [02:14.79]In San Francisco and New York City, [02:18.57]wealthy renters outnumber wealthy buyers. [02:21.94]There are more high-earning renters — about 250,000 [02:27.69]— in New York City than anywhere else in the country. [02:31.35]But Ciuntu notes that the interest in renting [02:35.71]does not mean wealthy Americans are rejecting homeownership. [02:41.25]Between 2007 and 2017, Seattle gained 13,400 more [02:50.29]wealthy home owners than it did high-income renters. [02:54.36]Cities like Chicago and Denver [02:57.76]also saw thousands more wealthy homeowners [03:01.28]move in than wealthy renters during that 10-year period. [03:06.14]I'm Jonathan Evans. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM