Americans' average rent payments have jumped to $2,047. These 3 charts show how affordability has evolved in the last decade.
Drew Angerer/Getty
- The typical rent in the US climbed 3.2% year-over-year to hit $2,047 in September, Zillow data shows.
- While higher than a year ago, the rate of rent price growth has been declining for 19 months.
- On a monthly basis, September rents moved 0.2% higher compared to August.
The typical US monthly rent payment climbed to $2,047 in September, according to Zillow data.
That's 3.2% higher than one year ago, and up 0.2% compared to the prior month.
While the total monthly bill is higher on average, the rate of rent price growth has slowed down for 19 consecutive months. In February 2022, the annual growth rate hit a record-high 16%, Zillow reported.
The September 2023 reading is well below the annual pace observed in 2019, before the pandemic, when year-over-year growth hovered between 4.0% and 4.2%.
The three charts in Zillow's Observed Rent Index, depicted below, show how the years of the pandemic are an obvious outlier in the last decade of rent growth, with annualized prices spiking in the early days of the COVID-19 crisis after an otherwise steady period.
The latest 0.2% monthly increase is slightly faster the the average pre-pandemic September, when rents stayed largely the same from 2015 to 2019.
Typical monthly rent prices hit $1,281 in January 2015, $1,446 in January 2018, and $1,594 in January 2021.
"Annual rent growth is cooling off thanks in part to a deluge of new multifamily construction – financed and started while mortgage rates were at historic lows – finally coming onto the market and accepting new tenants," Zillow said.
June 2021 saw the sharpest month-over-month jump in rent price growth at 2.0%.
Zillow
Meanwhile, monthly rent growth over the third quarter this year was marginally higher compared to seasonal averages before the pandemic, which could reflect "rent growth's underlying resilience" or shifting seasonal patterns as a consequence of the pandemic, Zillow said.
Additionally, as the charts show, October 2022 was the first month in two years where rents declined on a monthly basis.
Borrowing costs have climbed since the Federal Reserve began hiking rates in early 2022, and that has likely weighed on new apartment construction. The real estate group noted that construction starts for buildings with five or more units declined sharply in August to a three-year low.
Out of the 50 largest US metropolitan areas, September rents climbed the most month-over-month in Milwaukee (0.8%), Virginia Beach (0.8%), and Philadelphia (0.7%).
The steepest dips happened in cities that were former hot-spots for pandemic-era growth, with Austin (-0.9%), Memphis (-0.6%), and Orlando (-0.4%) leading the declines.
"The drastic decline in affordability in these areas over the course of the past few years has helped slow the pace of in-migration, and has pushed local renters to economize by hunkering down in existing leases, living with more roommates, or seeking cheaper units," Zillow said. "These are also areas where multifamily units have come onto the market, bringing competitive pressure to landlords."
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