Those of you who are renters have probably seen directly what’s happening with rental rates -- up, up and away.
And it’s not just apartment rents that are soaring. U.S. single-family-home rent jumped 12.6% year-on-year in January, the 10th record monthly gain in a row, according to real estate research firm CoreLogic.
Its data go back to 2004. The increase more than tripled the one for January 2021. The measure includes condominium rentals.
The price surge stemmed partly from a continuing shortage of available rental properties, CoreLogic said. Also, prices for buying a home climbed 19% on an annual basis in January, pushing away potential buyers and forcing them to keep renting, the firm said.
Where Are the Sharpest Increases?
All major metropolitan areas experienced rent gains in January, with Sun Belt cities once again leading the way, CoreLogic said.
The Miami metro area placed first at 39%, followed by Orlando at 20%, Phoenix at 19%, Las Vegas at 17% and San Diego at 16%. The Sun Belt cities saw strong population growth last year, noted Molly Boesel, principal economist at CoreLogic.
Meanwhile, rents for primary residences soared 0.6% in February over January, the biggest gain since 1987, the government reported last week, as cited by TheStreet.com. Rental data are reported with a lag, so that number will almost certainly rise going forward.
No U.S. city is more famous for its high rents than New York (San Francisco might compete for that dubious distinction). Median Manhattan rent jumped by a record 28% in February from a year earlier, hitting an at least 10-year high of $3,630, according to the Elliman Report, prepared by Miller Samuel Real Estate Appraisers & Consultants.
“This month, there was a noticeable uptick in all rental price trends as listing inventory and the vacancy rate continued to collapse,” the report said.
Listing inventory plunged 81.1% to 4,541, the biggest ever year-over-year fall. And the vacancy rate dropped to 1.32%, the lowest for a February since 2008.
“We’re seeing that rents have returned and basically surpassed where they were prepandemic,” Nancy Wu, an economist with StreetEasy, told The New York Times, referring to rents across New York.
