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BAH increase for 2010 averages 2.5 percent

Housing allowances will rise an average of just 2.5 percent in 2010 — nearly 4½ percent less than 2009’s average increase and a reflection of a rental market that continues to be depressed nationwide.

In 2009, the average basic allowance for housing increase was 6.9 percent, which was a shade lower than the 2008 average increase.

“The increase this year is lower than we have seen in the past,” said Cheryl Anne Woehr, a program analyst with the Pentagon’s BAH program. “So there are more areas that have decreases than we’ve had in the past, bringing down the average.” But because BAH is based in part on rental rates and because the rental market remains depressed in much of the country, she said, “this was not unexpected.”

For more details and charts, pick up the Monday issue of Army Times, Navy Times, Air Force Times or Marine Corps Times.