SAN FRANCISCO—Zumper recently released its latest national rent report, which includes insights on how the pandemic is affecting rent prices across the nation. The report covers 100 US cities with data aggregated from more than 1 million active listings, and includes a National Rent Index for one- and two-bedroom units.
Among the highlights of the report, both the national one- and two-bedrooms rents are down 0.5% year-to-date, settling at $1,217 and $1,473, respectively.
Indeed, many renters are looking for more affordable options outside of the pricey metropolitan areas as many companies move to remote work. As a result, COVID-19 has shifted demand away from the most expensive markets and the top 10 cities all had flat to declining monthly rent changes.
San Francisco, though still ranking as the most expensive city in the nation, saw one-bedroom rents drop 9.2% since this time last year to $3,360, which is the largest decline since Zumper started creating rent reports in 2015 and the lowest price point since March 2017.
"San Francisco rent is down over 9% year-over-year, which is the largest decline ever and the lowest price point it's been in over three years," Crystal Chen, Zumper analyst tells GlobeSt.com. "Similarly, the three next most expensive markets, New York City, Boston and San Jose, all had negative year-over-year changes for their respective one-bedroom rents as well."
This demand shift comes at a time when activity usually picks up heading into summer but now the opposite is true, Chen says.
"As more and more companies move into remote work, many renters don't want to pay the big city price tag when they are unable to use the amenities and are looking for more affordable options outside of large metropolitan areas," she tells GlobeSt.com. "Rents overall will continue to face downward pressure in the coming months as landlords will need to price their units down to fill vacancies and/or offer incentives like a free month's rent with a 12 month lease, etc."
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Lisa Brown
Lisa Brown is an editor for the south and west regions of GlobeSt.com. She has 25-plus years of real estate experience, with a regional PR role at Grubb & Ellis and a national communications position at MMI. Brown also spent 10 years as executive director at NAIOP San Francisco Bay Area chapter, where she led the organization to achieving its first national award honors and recognition on Capitol Hill. She has written extensively on commercial real estate topics and edited numerous pieces on the subject.
