The rental market is showing continued signs of cooling, with record levels of supply contributing to tenants seeing lower prices than they have in more than 30 months.
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Median asking rents fell 0.7% year-over-year in November, with rents down 1.1% on a month-over-month basis, according to a report by Redfin. The $1,595 median national asking rent is at its lowest point since March 2022 amid a spike that drove rents to their all-time high.
The asking price per square foot for rental apartments declined for the 19th consecutive month, dropping 2.2% year-over-year to the lowest level since December 2021. Rents at studio and one-bedroom units fell by 1.7%, two-bedroom units declined by 1.1% and three-bedroom or larger units saw the sharpest drop of 2.3%.
This is especially significant for the 22% of renters in the U.S. who claim that their entire paycheck goes to rent and the 20% of those renters who work a second job just to afford their apartment, according to a November survey conducted by Redfin.
Record levels of construction have allowed rents to ease. About 508,00 units are expected to be delivered by 2025. Nationally, apartment completions surged more than 22% year-over-year in the second quarter, reaching the highest level in more than 12 years, according to Redfin.
The surge has driven vacancy rates for buildings with five or more units up 8% in the third quarter, marking the highest level since 2021.
“As construction starts to slow, rents will eventually tick back up, but 2025 is shaping up as a renter’s market with potential for the affordability gap between buying and renting to widen,” Redfin Senior Economist Sheharyar Bokhari said in a statement.
Starts have dropped and delivery numbers are expected to significantly decline by 2026 and 2027. Some developers are cautiously reentering the multifamily development space, targeting secondary markets that have less supply and are poised for rent growth, Bisnow reported this week.
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