PrepTest 151, Section 4, Question 6
The construction of new apartments in Brewsterville increased(28 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(10 more words not shown)
- AFewer new apartments(5 more words not shown)
- BThe new apartments(8 more words not shown)
- CRents in some(15 more words not shown)
- DA sizeable number(15 more words not shown)
- EThe new apartments(17 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
More apartments, but higher rent? What else changed?
Having more places to live ordinarily gives renters more options. But perhaps these new apartments aren't comparable to the existing ones, so they don't offer much of an alternative. Or perhaps the number of people seeking housing grew even faster than the supply of apartments.
What we’re looking for
Imagine a large factory opening and attracting lots of workers. Even with a new apartment building, more people might now compete for each available home. That could explain rising rents without denying that the construction increased the supply. For this discrepancy question, I'd look for something like that: a reason the additional housing didn't produce the usual effect.
Working the answers
- A
Fewer apartments than planned is still more apartments than before. A might help explain why rents didn't fall as much as someone had hoped. It doesn't explain why rents rose. We need something that accounts for the actual increase, not just a smaller-than-expected addition to the housing supply.
- B
These are the new apartments, but the rents that rose belong to the existing apartments. Making the new units more attractive doesn't explain why people would pay more for the old ones. It might draw renters away from the old units instead. B doesn't give us the upward pressure on existing rents that we're trying to explain.
- C
This tells us what happened in nearby areas. The fact that construction helped lower rents elsewhere doesn't explain the different result inside Brewsterville. We still need to know why the existing apartments there became more expensive.
- D
People leaving the old apartments would free up places to live. That doesn't, by itself, explain why the remaining or incoming renters faced higher prices. Perhaps some other change pushed rents upward, but D hasn't supplied it. We shouldn't assume rents must fall whenever people leave; the point is that their departure isn't the missing reason for a rise.
- ECorrect
The supply increased while more people began seeking homes in Brewsterville. Those changes can pull rents in different directions. If the increase in people seeking housing puts enough pressure on the available apartments, rents can rise despite the new construction.
This fits the population-increase possibility. We don't need the specific factory imagined earlier; E supplies the relevant increase in demand. It doesn't give exact numbers or prove that every prospective resident moved in, but it makes the otherwise surprising rise in rent understandable.
More Paradox questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Paradox questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.