Two new data studies offer an update on the state of the rental market.
According to ABODO, one-bedroom rent prices have declined an average of 0.65 percent since the start of the year. Among the markets with the most extreme rental decreases were Rochester, N.Y., with an 8.7 percent tumble this month to a median of $707 from January’s $774. Two Pennsylvania cities took the next two largest drops—one-bedroom rents in both Pittsburgh and Philadelphia fell by more than six percent—followed, by two Ohio cities—Cleveland recorded a 4.7 percent decline on one-bedrooms this month while Cincinnati’s saw a 4.4 percent downturn.
However, Miami saw the greatest month-over-month increase, with a seven percent uptick that saw one-bedroom apartment rents jump to $1,635 from last month’s average of $1,528. But that was still relatively affordable compared to the priciest rental markets: San Francisco (with a one-bedroom going for an average of $3,499), New York ($2,796), San Jose ($2,546) and Boston ($2,415).
But in a
report from Apartment List, rents were found to have increased on a year-over-year measurement by 1.8 percent. Apartment List also found rents fell on a year-over-year in San Francisco, San Jose, Miami and Houston while eight of the 10 most expensive markets saw rent growth of one percent or less during 2016.
Furthermore, Apartment List noted that some of the fastest rent growth occurred in smaller cities surrounding the most expensive metro areas, which suggested renters were moving away from major urban areas in search of increased housing affordability. For example, the median two-bedroom rent in Arlington, Texas, rose by seven percent year-over-year to $990, compared to a relatively mild 2.3 percent year-over-year increase in Dallas, where the median two-bedroom rent is $1,650.
