LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) - After the housing market crash of 2008, a rental boom swept the U.S.

Losing their homes to foreclosure or unable to get a mortgage, many people moved into rental properties. Here in Arkansas, we're seeing some of the same things - but for different reasons.

The mobile military population provides North Little Rock with a plethera of people who rent.

"Camp Robinson and all those... a lot of military," says Real Estate Agent Yolly Seedtibood of Crye Leike in North Little Rock

Seeditbood says many times the air men and women choose to rent because, their time in the area is often short.

"If they cannot sell the home out of state or they're going to be here a short time, they like to rent," says Seedtibood.

With their stay brief, renting can also be more cost effective than buying.


"If they're going to be here two years it will be difficult at that time, in a two year time to recoop that investment," says Bob Walker of Coldwell Banker Real Estate.

U.S. census data suggests single-family home rental was the fastest-growing part of the U.S. rental market from 2005 to 2010. But Walker says Arkansas didn't follow that trend because of its steady housing market.

"The rest of the county, the Californias and Las Vegas, and Phoenix and those areas out there they had extremely high spikes. Well when you have high spikes and things get turned around you got a real deep valley. Arkansas has been on a nice steady incline so when this all hit we weren't hit quite as bad," says Walker.

Walker says stricter regulation on housing loans has also helped strengthen the rental market, but statistics say most people still want to own a house.

"The rental market is always going to be good. It's just that in the last two or three years it's been a whole lot better because of the inability to purchase. Given the choice they'd rather purchase," says Walker.

In Central Arkansas, Realtors sold $3 billion in real estate in 2011.