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According to the latest data from CoreLogic’s Single-Family Rental Index, single-family rents increased 2.9% year-over-year in March 2019, up from a 2.7% increase in March 2018.
CoreLogic reports that the steady rent growth that began in 2010 has begun to stabilize, fluctuating between 2.7% and 3.1% for the past 12 months. March’s growth was propped up mainly by low-end rentals, defined as properties with rents 75% or less of a region’s median rent. Rents on lower-priced rental homes increased 3.5% year-over-year and rents for higher-priced homes, defined as properties with rents more than 125% of the regional median rent, increased 2.4% year-over-year.
CoreLogic notes that, by metro area, Phoenix had the highest year-over-year rent growth this March, with an increase of 7.4%. It was followed by Las Vegas (6.9%) and Tucson, Arizona (6.3%). Meanwhile, Miami had the lowest rent growth in March, increasing by just 0.4% from the prior year, and Houston and Miami had the largest deceleration in rent growth in March.
Data from the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) and the Census Bureau revealed that new single-family rent construction slipped in March. The Census Bureau’s Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design report indicates that there were 5,000 single-family built-for-rent starts for Q1 2019, below the 6,000 estimated for the start of 2018. Over the last four quarters, 42,000 such homes began construction.
The NAHB notes that these quarter-to-quarter fluctuations were not statistically significant. The current four-quarter moving average of market share (4.8%) remains higher than the recent historical average of 2.7% (1992-2012) but is down from the 5.8% reading registered at the start of 2013.
The market for single-family rental (SFR) securitizations, meanwhile, continued to grow month-over-month in March. During that month, it increased to 4.7% from 4.2%, according to a recent Morningstar Credit Ratings report.
