U.S. Median Rents Have Begun to Fall

Prices were down 0.5% annually in May, signaling more dips to come, according to Realtor.com

Renters in the U.S. finally caught a break in May, when the country’s median asking rent dropped 0.5% from last year to $1,739, according to a report Monday from Realtor.com.

May’s year-over-year decrease is the first annual decline Realtor has reported since it began tracking rental data in 2020. Though May rents were $3 higher than April’s median monthly rent, it’s a $38 drop from when rent peaked in July 2022, according to the report, in which Realtor.com analyzed the 50 largest U.S. metro areas.

This price dip is a sign for further rent drops to come, according to the report, which predicts that this year’s rents will average a 0.9% decline from 2022.

“In May, we saw the first year-over-year decline in rents, a sea change from the double-digit growth that renters contended with in much of 2021 and 2022. This is yet another sign that rental-driven inflation is likely behind us, even though we may not see this trend in official measures until next year,” said Danielle Hale, Realtor.com’s chief economist. “Although still modest, a decline in rents combined with cooling inflation and a still-strong job market is definitely welcome news for households.”

After this slight decline, U.S. rents are still $344 higher than they were in pre-pandemic May 2019.

With the tech hubs and pandemic boomtowns of the West beginning to cool, the western U.S. saw the largest year-over-year decline with rents dropping 3%. Las Vegas recorded the largest rent decline in the country with a 6% drop. Riverside, California, was a close second, dropping 5.9%.

The South, also home to metros people flocked to during the height of the pandemic, saw a 1% annual decrease in rents, according to the report. There, prices in formerly hot Austin, Texas, dropped 5.6%

In the Midwest, where rents are typically more affordable, prices increased 4.5%, climbing at a slower pace than previous months. The country’s largest rent increase was in Columbus, Ohio, with prices soaring 9.3% year over year.

Northeast rents remained “relatively strong,” with rent in metro areas like New York and Boston increasing 6.8% and 3.3%, respectively.

Mansion Global is owned by Dow Jones. Both Dow Jones and Realtor.com are owned by News Corp.

Reposted from Mansion Global