Apartment List: February Rents in U.S. Edge Up 0.6%

After a few months of slowing down, rents are back on the upswing, according to the latest report from Apartment List. 

After a slight seasonal cooldown over the past few months, rent growth is back on an upward trajectory, with our national index up by 0.6 percent over the course of February. Even though month-over-month rent growth has moved back into positive territory, it remains substantially cooler than last summer, when rents grew by more than 2 percent per month for four straight months. Year-over-year rent growth currently stands at a staggering 17.6 percent, but most of that growth took place last spring and summer. Over the past four months, rents have increased by a total of just 0.7 percent. That said, this month’s growth was still faster than the pre-pandemic norm for this time of year.

On the supply side, our national vacancy index is continuing to slowly inch up, indicating a gradual easing of the tight market conditions that have characterized the rental market over the past year. We estimate that the national vacancy rate hit 4.5 percent this month, continuing a seven month streak of increases after bottoming out at 3.8 percent last August. Rents increased this month in 74 of the nation’s 100 largest cities, with Sun Belt markets such as Phoenix and Miami continuing to see some of the nation’s fastest growth.

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