"Renters today must earn $66,120 to afford the median priced apartment," a new analysis from Redfin reports.

That is $11,408 more than the typical U.S. renter earns, Redfin estimated. Even though apartment oversupply is holding rents down in some areas, it found the median U.S. asking rent rose 0.8% year-over-year in May this year. "Demand from renters who can't afford to buy their own homes is keeping rents near their record high."

Despite the demand, fewer than one in two newly constructed apartments completed in 4Q2023 were rented within three months, compared to 60% the previous year. The recent figure "is the lowest seasonally adjusted share on record" apart from 1Q2020 when the pandemic upended the housing market. The national rental vacancy rate has held at around 6.6% over the past nine months – the highest level since 2021.