According to The Wall Street Journal, apartment landlords continue to push rents higher in many cities. In fact, landlords have wielded the upper hand since the housing crisis began. As the WSJ explains:

Nationwide, landlords raised rents by an average of 0.8% to $1,083 a month in the quarter, according to a report to be released Tuesday by Reis Inc., REIS -0.16% a real-estate research firm. While that is below the previous quarter's 1% increase, it is above the 0.6% gain seen in 2012's final quarter. Rents climbed 3.2% for all of 2013.

Rising mortgage rates, tighter borrowing requirements and higher home prices have put many people out of the housing-purchase market. Plus, many people remain burned by the housing crash and don't want to own a home"Many current renters have financial, credit and mobility constraints," said Luis Mejia, CoStar's director of multifamily research, adding he isn't as worried about apartment oversupply as some of his peers.