Rent prices for single-family homes remained steady in September, according to CoreLogic data released Tuesday.
Nationwide, U.S. rental prices grew by 3 percent in September, the same rate as in August and as in September 2018. After peaking at 4 percent growth in February 2016, rent prices have been growing less drastically in recent months.
CoreLogic
Despite the stable growth, affordable rentals saw the biggest spikes in prices. Properties whose rent is 75 percent less than the region’s median grew by 3.8 percent year-over-year while high-end properties, whose rent costs more than 125 percent of the region’s median, saw only 2.9 percent growth over the same time period.
“Low rental supply coupled with ongoing demand pushed up rents in September,” CoreLogic Principal Economist Molly Boesel said in a statement. “Vacancy rates have fallen moderately on the national level over the last quarter – with a 0.3 percent decrease in the third quarter of 2019 compared to a year earlier – and more significantly in select metro areas.”
CoreLogic
Pockets of the country have also seen much more dramatic rent increases. Month after month, Phoenix continues to top the list of American cities with the highest rent growth due to its high employment rate (2.4 percent annually). In September, rent prices in the city grew by 6.7 percent.
Las Vegas and Seattle also came in close at 5.8 percent and 5.5 percent growth, respectively.
“Of the metros analyzed in the CoreLogic Single-Family Rent Index, Phoenix experienced the largest decrease in vacancy rates at 2.6 percent, which helped drive its rent growth to the top of the nation in September,” Boesel said.