September Marked Turning Point for Multifamily Rents
Year over year rent increases slowed but are still up 8.8 percent last month.
September apartment rents are down month-over-month, in what experts from Rent.com call “a hopeful sign” the market is stabilizing.
Year over year rent increases slowed but are still up 8.8 percent last month; in August, rent prices increased by 12.3 percent. September also marks the first time year-over-year changes dipped into the single digits since September 2021 and the lowest year-over-year increase since October 2021.
In addition, 61 percent of state-level markets saw decreased rents in September compared to the prior month, with New York posting the largest decrease at just over 17 percent month-over-month followed by Illinois and Massachusetts at 4.6 percent and 4.0 percent, respectively. In addition, 31 of the 50 metros analyzed by Rent.com were down month-over-month, led by Cincinnati and Columbus with increases of nearly 7 and 6 percent. Median rent is also down month over month in 60 percent of markets surveyed, in what analysts call a “promising sign of a market beginning to cool.”
New York, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Massachusetts and Oregon showed year-over-year declines, with just New York and Wisconsin down by more than a full percentage point at -10.01 percent and -7.39 percent respectively.
Jeff Adler, VP of Yardi Matrix and industry principal of self-storage at Yardi, recently told GlobeSt.com that “suburbs in major gateway metros and migration market favorites have seen greater rent growth since the start of the pandemic, but that the direction going forward is more balanced.”