Median Apartment Rent Sees First Declines in Nearly Two Years
Zumper calls it “normalization” as more than half its markets tracked show month-over-month decreases.
One-bedroom median apartment rent is on the decline in several markets for the first time in many months.
More than half the cities on Zumper’s list show month-over-month decreases in median one-bedroom rent.
CEO Anthemos Georgiades said in prepared remarks, “The rental market has been very supply constrained for the past five quarters, but there has been a significant shift back towards equilibrium in the past quarter.
“Occupancy rates and the pace of rent increases are now falling in many major metros, as renter demand softens and fear of recession kicks in, with many renters deciding to stay put or trade down on the most expensive options.”
CoStar, RealPage Weigh In
CoStar reported that August apartment asking rents, nationally, fell 0.1% from July, marking the first such decline since December 2020.
According to RealPage, same store asking rents for new leases climbed 0.4% between July and August 2022.
“That pales in comparison to August 2021’s hike of 1.9%, but it’s much more in line with a normal August,” wrote RealPage’s Jay Parsons in the company’s analytics blog earlier this month. “Rent growth is seasonal and tends to drop off in late summer.”
Seattle, NYC Rents Power On
Because of rising home mortgage rates and especially low supply, Seattle’s rent is normalizing much more slowly than much of the country. Median one-bedroom rent in Seattle is $2,040, a 2% increase over last month and 20.7% over the same time last year.
The rising New York rental market remains undaunted: Median one-bedroom rent in the city is just $50 shy of $4,000.
Still ‘Crushing Demand’ for Apartments
Zumper said the cost of buying a home has accelerated at such a high rate that it continues to create “crushing demand across the rental market.”
For the ninth time in as many months, Zumper reported, national one-bedroom rent has reached a new high of $1,503. Two-bedroom national median rent, now $1,845, is also at an all-time high.
Markets seeing slight declines include Minneapolis; Nashville; El Paso; and Jacksonville, Tampa and Orlando.