Overall rent trends point to stable growth — rental rates peaked at 4 percent growth in February. That said, pockets of the country are still grappling with affordability concerns and a rapidly rising cost of rent. Phoenix, Seattle and Las Vegas saw the highest spikes in rent at 6.8, 5.8 and 5.4 percent growth, respectively.
CoreLogic
Such growth is, according to CoreLogic, at least partially caused by a lack of affordable homes on the market. As a strong economy and job market attract workers to those cities, local housing supply cannot keep up with increased demand for housing. Similar issues are affecting numerous cities across the U.S.
In such situations, affordable rentals are usually the first to see price increases. Properties in which rent is 75 percent less than the region’s median saw rents grow by 3.6 percent year-over-year while rents of high-end properties, where rent costs more than 125 percent of the region’s median, grew by 2.9 percent.
CoreLogic