SFR Rent Growth Continues Its 10-Month Decline

U.S. single-family rent price growth dropped to 5% in February, continuing its ten-month slog of slowing growth, according to CoreLogic’s Single-Family Rent Index. 

The metro-level numbers also indicate that renters are favoring more affordable markets such as St. Louis, long one of the least expensive of the 20 rental markets that CoreLogic looks at. In fact, what a difference a year has made for this Midwestern city by the Mississippi. A year ago, in February, it was at the bottom for gains but this past February it ranked at the top for growth at 7.8%. That city was followed by two Southern cities of Charlotte and Orlando. Each registered the next highest annual gains at 7.7%.

Western metros presented a different scenario. Some were near the top for big rent price increases a year ago but now are not seeing the same appreciation. For example, in February 2022, Phoenix and Las Vegas ranked amid the top five for annual rent price growth at 18.2% and 16.6% respectively. Now they’re both at the bottom for increases; both cities at 0.3%.  And Seattle was just a bit above them at 0.4%.

Molly Boesel, principal economist at CoreLogic puts all these numbers and the trend in focus, “Rental cost growth relaxed again in February but is still increasing nationwide year over year,” she said. “Less expensive metros have emerged as those with the highest appreciating rental costs, as tenants contend with elevated rents and inflation. However, while the top U.S. metros for rental cost growth are increasing annually by about 8%, that is well below the rates of 20% to 40% seen one year ago,” she adds.

Why is the single-family rental market so important to track and analyze? It accounts for half the rental housing stock yet there are not the same number of sources of rent data for it as there are for multifamily housing. The CoreLogic SFRI fills that void.