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A comment on U.S. Apartment Market Shows Signs of Losing Steam.

Re:U.S. Apartment Market Shows Signs of Losing Steam by gsch on Sunday April 10, 2016 @09:55AM (#11466093)
>Average rents, meanwhile, increased by 4.1% to $1,248 in the first quarter from a year earlier, compared with the 2015 first quarter’s 5% increase, according to Axiometrics Inc., an apartment research company.

So rents increased 4.1% instead of 5% as they did a year ago. Both of these numbers are higher than the rate of inflation [0]. So rents are still rising in real terms.

Can we really say the market is "cooling", then? I would think that the "heat" of a market would be measured by the first derivative of price, rather than the second.

[0]: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-inflation-rate-in-past-1...

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Re:U.S. Apartment Market Shows Signs of Losing Steam by Kinnard on Sunday April 10, 2016 @10:50AM (#11466339)
The market could be "cooling" while still "hot".
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Re:U.S. Apartment Market Shows Signs of Losing Steam by gsch on Sunday April 10, 2016 @11:49AM (#11466667)
Sure, but in the article (and your metaphor as I understand it), "heating" and "cooling" refer to the rate of change of the rate of change, i.e. whether the year-on-year increase in rental price is increasing or decreasing. "Hot" (and presumably "cold") would then refer to the YOY increase itself.

I'm wondering whether the clearer metaphor isn't to use "heating" and "cooling" to refer to positive/negative YOY increases, respectively, and "hot" and "cold" to describe the average prices.

I guess "Market still heating up, just not as fast" makes for a less compelling headline.

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