by MICHELLE SPRINGER

TOO MANY APARTMENTS are now on the market as owners continue to price themselves way above what tenants can afford.

Realtors are saying the rental market is in crisis, and that overpricing in the middle-income bracket is rampant as some owners jack up rents to help offset steep mortgages.

As a result, realtors are left with properties that have been on the market for close to a year.

"We're overbuilt. People keep building apartments for rent and never ask themselves when will the supply run out. Eight years ago when we started, it wasn't very good . . . . But now they're in real deep trouble," said Julie Dash of Hannah Properties Ltd.

Janet Bailey, also of Hannah Properties, one of the agencies that move long-term rentals, said: "We have at least 18 properties which have been on the market for more than eight months ranging from $1 250 to $12 000. One was on for about two-and-a-half years," she said, noting this was across the supply market and not just in the premium brackets.

Realtor George Ramsay said his company no longer allowed properties to stay on the market that long. Six months was the maximum it let a property stay among its listings without a drop in price.

He said there were also some landlords who were asking more than their properties were worth.

"Some owners believe just because they have a four-bedroom, three-bathroom house, they can ask $6 000 to $7 000 a month. I believe they need to be realistic with what they have," he said.

Another realtor, who asked not to be identified, told the SUNDAY SUN: "A lot of the properties just aren't worth what people are asking and that is also why they're staying on the market for so long."

The realtors said houses moved off the rental market once there was a drop in the asking price.

Ramsay also said that the rental market was in trouble because more tenants were becoming conscientious consumers interested in long-term real estate investments.

"What you will find is that many people in the lower to middle income brackets will look to transfer from a rental situation to an ownership situation. So people are not renting for 15 or 20 years any more."

Such tenants would rather look to pay minimum rental charges and sacrifice luxury and comfort in order to invest the bulk of their savings and income in mortgages for land and/or property, he added.

michellespringer@nationnews.com