Welcome to the first Apartment List National Rent Report of 2022. Our national index fell by 0.2 percent during the month of December, marking the only time in 2021 when rents declined month-over-month. A slight dip in rents at this time of year is typical of seasonality in the market, but it’s especially notable after a year of record-setting growth. Over the course of calendar year 2021, the national median rent increased by a staggering 17.8 percent. To put that in context, annual rent growth averaged just 2.3 percent in the pre-pandemic years from 2017-2019.
Welcome to the December Apartment List National Rent Report. Our national index increased by 0.1 percent during the month of November, the lowest month-over-month growth rate of 2021. The pace of rent growth has been cooling rapidly for the past few months, but growth is still outpacing pre-pandemic trends, with the slight uptick this month coming at a time of year when seasonality normally causes prices to dip. Since January of this year, the national median rent has increased by a staggering 17.8 percent.
Welcome to the November Apartment List National Rent Report. Our national index increased by 0.8 percent from September to October, the lowest month-over-month growth rate since February. Although the pace of rent growth has slowed down significantly from its July peak, growth is still outpacing pre-pandemic trends, with rents continuing to rise during a time of year when seasonality normally causes prices to dip. Since January of this year, the national median rent has increased by a staggering 16.4 percent.
Welcome to the October Apartment List National Rent Report. Our national index increased by 2.1 percent from August to September. Although month-over-month growth has slowed slightly from its July peak, rents are still growing much faster than the pre-pandemic trend. Since January of this year, the national median rent has increased by a staggering 16.4 percent. To put that in context, rent growth from January to September averaged just 3.4 percent in the pre-pandemic years from 2017-2019.
Welcome to the September Apartment List National Rent Report. Our national index increased by 2.1 percent from July to August, a slight cool-down from 2.5 percent the month before, but nevertheless a continuation of rent growth that has persisted since the start of the year. Since January 2021, the national median rent has increased by a staggering 13.8 percent. To put that in context, rent growth from January to August averaged just 3.6 percent in the pre-pandemic years from 2017-2019.
In a year when people have yearned for a return to normal, the rental market has been anything but. Not only are rent prices rising, they are rising tremendously fast and rising virtually everywhere. According to our national rent estimates, prices jumped over 11 percent in the first half of 2021, more than doubling the rate of inflation and more than tripling the typical rent growth we measured in the several years preceding the pandemic. Today, 87 of the nation’s 100 largest cities have fully rebounded to pre-pandemic rent prices
Welcome to the August Apartment List National Rent Report. Our national index increased by 2.5 percent from June to July, continuing a months-long trend of rapidly accelerating rent growth. So far in 2021, the national median rent has increased by a staggering 11.4 percent. To put that in context, in the pre-pandemic years from 2017-2019, rent growth from January to July averaged just 3.3 percent. This month’s spike continues to push rents well above where they would be if growth had remained on its pre-pandemic trend.
Welcome to the July Apartment List National Rent Report. Our national index increased by 2.3 percent in June, continuing the trend of rapid price growth since the start of the year. So far in 2021, rental prices have grown a staggering 9.2 percent. To put that in context, in previous years growth from January to June is usually just 2 to 3 percent. After this month’s spike, rents have been pushed well above our expectations of where they would have been had the pandemic not disrupted the market.
To assess how severely the rental market has been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and how quickly it is returning to pre-pandemic prices, we use historical rent data to estimate “projected” rent prices from April 2020 onward. These projections assume that rent growth in 2020 and 2021 mirrors pre-pandemic growth and follows typical seasonal trends in each city studied. For more details on these projections, see the Methodology section below.
The last decade significantly shifted the urban geography of the United States. The longest economic expansion on record brought new opportunities and challenges, then came to a screeching pandemic halt in 2020. The growth was long-lived but uneven. New and existing innovation hubs and oil towns boomed, while some markets struggled to shake off sluggishness after the Great Recession. Throughout the 2010s, America’s housing growth both reflected and reinforced these trends.
Welcome to the June Apartment List National Rent Report. Our national index increased by 2.3 percent from April to May, representing the third straight month of record-setting rent growth, going back to the start of our rent estimates in 2017. After this recent spike, year-over-year rent growth now stands at 5.4 percent nationally, and prices are now in line with where we expect they would have been if the pandemic-related rent declines of 2020 never occurred.
According to the Census Bureau, the United States’ annual mover rate (the percentage of people who change residence each year) had been declining since the mid-1980s, and reached its lowest point just before the COVID-19 pandemic. This trend may have continued if not for the sudden and rapid adoption of remote work.
In a survey of 5,000 employed adults across the U.S., we found that four-in-ten workers expect to have some form of continued remote work flexibility post-pandemic. 19 percent expect to have a hybrid arrangement that allows for remote work multiple days per week, while 21 percent expect that they’ll have the ability to work exclusively remotely.
This month’s data shows rent rebounds accelerating in markets across the country. Our national index increased by 1.9 percent over the past month, the largest monthly increase ever in our estimates, going back to the beginning of 2017. The data continue to exhibit significant regional variation, but the days of plummeting rents in pricey coastal markets are officially behind us. Although rents in San Francisco are still down 19.5 percent year-over-year, the city has seen prices increase by 7 percent over just the past two months. 9 of the 10 cities with the sharpest year-over-year declines have now had three consecutive months of rising rents. At the other end of the spectrum, many of the mid-sized markets that have seen rents grow rapidly through the pandemic are showing that there’s still steam left in the current boom -- Boise rents jumped by another 5.2 percent this month, the biggest increase among the nation’s 100 largest cities.
Despite many accounts of an urban exodus, the COVID-19 pandemic will not leave American cities hollow. Throughout the pandemic search activity has turned towards large, dense cities, not away from them. For every renter who left, there appear to be many ready to take their spot. Compared to this time last year (i.e., pre-pandemic), the data show more search activity directed towards higher-density cities and towards the principal cities that anchor each major metropolitan area. Simultaneously, increased demand for short-term leases indicate that pandemic-era moves are less permanent than those of previous years.
This month’s data shows rent prices continuing to rebound in markets across the country. Our national index increased by 1.1 percent over the past month, the largest monthly increase ever in our estimates, going back to the beginning of 2017. The data continue to exhibit significant regional variation, but the days of plummeting rents in pricey coastal markets appear to be over. Although rents in San Francisco are still down 23.2 percent year-over-year, the city saw an increase of 3.4 percent this month, the biggest increase among the 100 largest cities in the country. 9 of the 10 cities with the sharpest year-over-year declines have now had two consecutive months of rising rents. At the other end of the spectrum, many of the mid-sized markets that have seen rents grow rapidly through the pandemic are showing that there’s still steam left in the current boom -- Boise rents also jumped by 3.4 percent this month, and are now up by 16.1 percent year-over-year.
This month’s data represents the clearest indication yet that rent prices are rebounding in markets across the country. Our national index increased by 0.7 percent over the past month, the largest monthly increase since the summer of 2019. The data continue to exhibit significant regional variation, but the days of plummeting rents in pricey coastal markets appear to be coming to an end, with cities such as San Francisco and Seattle experiencing positive month-over-month growth for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
Millennials are officially the nation’s largest generation, and spanning the ages of 24 to 39, they are now in their prime home-buying years. But for as long as they have been old enough to buy homes, millennials have lagged previous generations in fulfilling that goal. In this study, we combine data from the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey and our annual Apartment List Renter Survey to assess whether millennials are catching up, or if they are truly less likely to attain homeownership than prior generations.
The COVID-19 pandemic made housing affordability a persistent concern throughout 2020. And as we enter the new year, rent payments remain a financial obstacle for many families. According to our latest survey, 30 percent of renters did not make their January payment on-time at the start of the year. This is down just slightly from the mid-summer peak when unemployment was at its worst, but up significantly from historic baseline levels.
After years of steady price increases, 2020 brought the nation’s rental market to a halt. Typically rents rise during the busy summer season, but this year apartments across the country are on average renting for about two percent less than they were pre-pandemic.
