Rent Growth Nearly Triples as Housing Inventory Tightens

CoreLogic has released its latest Single-Family Rent Index, which analyzes single-family rent price changes nationally and across major metropolitan areas. Single-family rent tripled from October 2021 as data showed a national rent increase of 10.9% year-over-year, up from a 3.2% year-over-year increase in October 2020. 

Rent prices continued their strong upward movement into Q4 as vacancy rates remained near 25-year lows. Tight inventory in the for-sale market has also displaced many potential buyers and forced more demand into single-family rentals as their next best option. 

“Single-family rent growth hit its sixth consecutive record high in October 2021, mirroring record price increases in the for-sale housing market,” said Molly Boesel, principal economist at CoreLogic. “Rent growth in October 2020 had already recovered from pre-pandemic lows and rent growth this October was more than three times that of a year earlier.” 

To gain a detailed view of single-family rental prices, CoreLogic examines four tiers of rental prices. National single-family rent growth across the four tiers, and the year-over-year changes, were as follows: 

• Lower-priced (75% or less than the regional median): 9.5%, up from 2.8% in October 2020 
• Lower-middle priced (75% to 100% of the regional median): 10.1%, up from 2.8% in October 2020 
• Higher-middle priced (100% to 125% of the regional median): 11.3%, up from 3% in October 2020 
• Higher-priced (125% or more than the regional median): 11.4%, up from 3.5% in October 2020 

Among the 20 metro areas shown in Table 1 (see below), Miami had the highest year-over-year increase in single-family rents in October 2021 at 29.7%, followed by Phoenix and Las Vegas at 19.3% and 16.5%, respectively. These major metros have continued to experience rapid growth as tourism returns and local labor markets improve. While Chicago logged the lowest annual rent price growth at 4.2% in October, this is still more than double its pre-pandemic growth rate. 

The CoreLogic Single-Family Rent Index analyzes data across four price tiers:  

• Lower-priced, which represent rentals with prices 75% or below the regional median 
• Lower-middle, 75% to 100% of the regional median 
• Higher-middle, 100%-125% of the regional median 
• Higher-priced, 125% or more above the regional median 

The next CoreLogic Single-Family Rent Index will be released on January 18, 2022, featuring data for November 2021. For ongoing housing trends and data, click here.