The US economy's K-shaped recovery is being borne out in rent growth for single-family rentals, with higher-priced rentals increasing 7.9% year-over-year in May and lower-tiered SFRs pushing up 4.6% over the same period.

A new report from CoreLogic shows that the lower-priced tier, defined as properties with rent prices less than 75% of the regional median, is nonetheless posting the fastest uptick in rents since January 2017. But high-priced rentals, which are defined as properties with rent greater than 125% of a region's median, are showing the biggest increase in the history of the firm's Single Family Rental Index, or SFRI.

Overall, single-family rental growth went up 6.6% nationwide in May, the quickest year-over-year index since January 2005 and nearly four times the May 2020 increase. Detached rentals are leading SFR growth with a 9.2% year-over-year increase in May (versus annual growth of 3.6% for attached rentals).