US Rent Growth Returns to Pre-Pandemic Level in May, CoreLogic Reports
Single-family rental cost gains rose by 3.4% year over year in May, returning to the historical rate recorded in the decade before the pandemic
Rent growth for the lowest price tier was more than double that of the highest price tier
Since the start of the pandemic, single-family median rents increased by $470, or 30%
Although annual attached rental cost growth again outpaced detached rental cost gains in May, overall increases for detached properties remain higher since 2020
Chicago posted the highest annual rent growth of tracked metro areas, at 6.6%
IRVINE, Calif., July 18, 2023—CoreLogic®, a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider, today released its latest Single-Family Rent Index (SFRI), which analyzes single-family rent price changes nationally and across major metropolitan areas.
Annual U.S. rent growth continued to ease in May, ending the month at 3.4%. Despite the past year’s continuously slowing rent growth, the overall rate of increase is roughly back to its pre-pandemic norm recorded between 2010 and 2019.
Notably, the Chicago metro topped the nation for annual rent growth, while New York and Boston also landed in the top five. Similar to trends observed in the latest US CoreLogic S&P Case-Shiller Index, steadily increasing rents in these areas likely reflects rebounding housing demand, as some office workers gradually return from remote jobs.
“After increasing at an accelerated pace for more than two years, annual single-family rent growth returned to the pre-pandemic rate in May,” said Molly Boesel, principal economist for CoreLogic. “High inflation may be affecting renters’ abilities to absorb continually higher monthly payments, which could be keeping year-over-year rent increases relatively low. However, even in the current economic environment, monthly single-family rent increases returned to a typical seasonal pattern in February of this year, suggesting that single-family rents are poised to continue increasing throughout 2023.”
To gain a detailed view of single-family rental prices across different market segments, CoreLogic examines four tiers of rental prices and two property-type tiers. National single-family rent growth across those tiers, and the year-over-year changes, were as follows:
Lower-priced (75% or less than the regional median): up 5.6%, down from 14.4% in May 2022
Lower-middle priced (75% to 100% of the regional median): up 4.3%, down from 14.8% in May 2022
Higher-middle priced (100% to 125% of the regional median): up 3.7%, down from 14.9% inMay 2022
Higher-priced (125% or more than the regional median): up 2.1%, down from 13% in May 2022
Attached versus detached :Attached single-family rental prices grew by 4.2% year over year in May, compared with the 2.5% increase for detached rentals
Of the 20 metros shown in Table 1, Chicago posted the highest year-over-year increase in single-family rents in May 2023, at 6.6%. Charlotte, North Carolina registered the second-highest annual gain at 5.9%, followed by Boston and New York (both 5.7%). Las Vegas saw an annual rent price decline of -1.3%.
The next CoreLogic Single-Family Rent Index will be released on August 15, 2023, featuring data for June 2023. For ongoing housing trends and data, visit the CoreLogic Intelligence Blog: www.corelogic.com/intelligence.
Methodology
The single-family rental market accounts for half of the rental housing stock, yet unlike the multifamily market, which has many different sources of rent data, there are minimal quality adjusted single-family rent transaction data. The CoreLogic Single-Family Rent Index (SFRI) serves to fill that void by applying a repeat pairing methodology to single-family rental listing data in the Multiple Listing Service. CoreLogic constructed the SFRI for close to 100 metropolitan areas – including 43 metros with four value tiers – and a national composite index.
The indices are fully revised with each release to signal turning points sooner.
The CoreLogic Single-Family Rent Index analyzes data across four price tiers: Lower-priced, which represent rentals with prices 75% or below the regional median; lower-middle, 75% to 100% of the regional median; higher-middle, 100%-125% of the regional median; and higher-priced, 125% or more above the regional median.
Median rent price data is produced monthly by CoreLogic RentalTrends. RentalTrends is built on a database of more than 11 million rental properties (over 75% of all U.S. individual owned rental properties) and covers all 50 states and 17,500 ZIP codes.
Source: CoreLogic
Rent growth for the lowest price tier was more than double that of the highest price tier
Since the start of the pandemic, single-family median rents increased by $470, or 30%
Although annual attached rental cost growth again outpaced detached rental cost gains in May, overall increases for detached properties remain higher since 2020
Chicago posted the highest annual rent growth of tracked metro areas, at 6.6%
IRVINE, Calif., July 18, 2023—CoreLogic®, a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider, today released its latest Single-Family Rent Index (SFRI), which analyzes single-family rent price changes nationally and across major metropolitan areas.
Annual U.S. rent growth continued to ease in May, ending the month at 3.4%. Despite the past year’s continuously slowing rent growth, the overall rate of increase is roughly back to its pre-pandemic norm recorded between 2010 and 2019.
Notably, the Chicago metro topped the nation for annual rent growth, while New York and Boston also landed in the top five. Similar to trends observed in the latest US CoreLogic S&P Case-Shiller Index, steadily increasing rents in these areas likely reflects rebounding housing demand, as some office workers gradually return from remote jobs.
“After increasing at an accelerated pace for more than two years, annual single-family rent growth returned to the pre-pandemic rate in May,” said Molly Boesel, principal economist for CoreLogic. “High inflation may be affecting renters’ abilities to absorb continually higher monthly payments, which could be keeping year-over-year rent increases relatively low. However, even in the current economic environment, monthly single-family rent increases returned to a typical seasonal pattern in February of this year, suggesting that single-family rents are poised to continue increasing throughout 2023.”
To gain a detailed view of single-family rental prices across different market segments, CoreLogic examines four tiers of rental prices and two property-type tiers. National single-family rent growth across those tiers, and the year-over-year changes, were as follows:
Lower-priced (75% or less than the regional median): up 5.6%, down from 14.4% in May 2022
Lower-middle priced (75% to 100% of the regional median): up 4.3%, down from 14.8% in May 2022
Higher-middle priced (100% to 125% of the regional median): up 3.7%, down from 14.9% inMay 2022
Higher-priced (125% or more than the regional median): up 2.1%, down from 13% in May 2022
Attached versus detached :Attached single-family rental prices grew by 4.2% year over year in May, compared with the 2.5% increase for detached rentals
Of the 20 metros shown in Table 1, Chicago posted the highest year-over-year increase in single-family rents in May 2023, at 6.6%. Charlotte, North Carolina registered the second-highest annual gain at 5.9%, followed by Boston and New York (both 5.7%). Las Vegas saw an annual rent price decline of -1.3%.
The next CoreLogic Single-Family Rent Index will be released on August 15, 2023, featuring data for June 2023. For ongoing housing trends and data, visit the CoreLogic Intelligence Blog: www.corelogic.com/intelligence.
Methodology
The single-family rental market accounts for half of the rental housing stock, yet unlike the multifamily market, which has many different sources of rent data, there are minimal quality adjusted single-family rent transaction data. The CoreLogic Single-Family Rent Index (SFRI) serves to fill that void by applying a repeat pairing methodology to single-family rental listing data in the Multiple Listing Service. CoreLogic constructed the SFRI for close to 100 metropolitan areas – including 43 metros with four value tiers – and a national composite index.
The indices are fully revised with each release to signal turning points sooner.
The CoreLogic Single-Family Rent Index analyzes data across four price tiers: Lower-priced, which represent rentals with prices 75% or below the regional median; lower-middle, 75% to 100% of the regional median; higher-middle, 100%-125% of the regional median; and higher-priced, 125% or more above the regional median.
Median rent price data is produced monthly by CoreLogic RentalTrends. RentalTrends is built on a database of more than 11 million rental properties (over 75% of all U.S. individual owned rental properties) and covers all 50 states and 17,500 ZIP codes.
Source: CoreLogic
