An accelerating surge in apartment rents is tightening the squeeze on the most affordable segments of the U.S. rental market. According to a new report from Redfin, renters seeking apartments under $1,000 a month are increasingly struggling to relocate as rising costs force them to stay in place longer and the number of new listings continues to dwindle.

The analysis, which used data from the U.S. Census Bureau, found that the fraction of renters in this demographic declined from 50.4% in 2012 to 35.2% in 2022 and to 32.1% last year. Redfin attributed the decline in listings to a boom in asking rents after the pandemic, which led to rents stabilizing near their record highs soon after.

The firm highlighted that while the median asking rent for housing in the U.S. is $1,634 per month, this figure has changed very little from last year and is 20% higher than the median rent before the pandemic.