The Decline of Asking Rents in May

The record-breaking rent growth of the last several years is showing signs of fading. Earlier this month, Redfin reported that rent growth slid 0.6% on a year-over-year basis for the first time since the pandemic. This is, of course, a modest decline in rents, but it begs the question: will there be a bigger correction or even a crash in rents? Or is it possible that rent growth will pick back up in the coming years? Let’s dig in. 

Where Rent Growth Stands

When we talk about rent growth in the U.S., the normal situation is for rent growth to be around or slightly higher than the pace of inflation. During the 2010s, most markets had an average annual rent growth of 3-5%. But during the pandemic, as we all know, this changed, and rent growth peaked at around 17.5% on a national basis, with some individual markets seeing annual rent growth top 30%.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices