Rent inflation for US single-family homes drops near two-year low

RENT increases for US single-family homes eased for a ninth straight month in January, pushing the annual rate to the lowest since the spring of 2021, according to CoreLogic.

Nationwide, the typical rent for a single-family home rose 5.7 per cent from a year earlier, data from the real estate analytics provider show. All 20 major metro areas tracked by CoreLogic posted single-digit annual rent increases, for the first time since late 2020.

US rents surged in the years after Covid-19 hit, helping to push the overall inflation rate up to four-decade highs. In recent months, real-time data from CoreLogic and other industry firms has shown a cooling in the market, although that’s yet to show up in the official consumer-price data because of lags in the way the numbers are calculated.

In Phoenix, a housing-market hotspot earlier in the pandemic, rent inflation is now running at less than 1 per cent, according to CoreLogic. Miami dropped out of the top three highest-growth markets for the first time since the summer of 2021.

Orlando, Florida posted the highest year-over-year increase in single-family rents in January, with an 8.9 per cent increase. New York City-area rents also climbed faster than the national average, rising by 7.4 per cent from a year earlier. The typical single-family home now costs about US$3,100 to rent in New York, while in Los Angeles the figure climbed above US$3,500.

CoreLogic’s median rent data is published monthly and based on a database that covers more than 75 per cent of US rental properties that are owned by individuals. BLOOMBERG