CoreLogic has released its latest Single-Family Rent Index (SFRI) for July 2021 [1], which analyzes single-family rent price changes nationally and across major metropolitan areas, showing a national rent increase of 8.5% year-over-year, up from a 1.7% year-over-year increase in July 2020.
July marked another month of rapid growth for the SFR market, with rent gains exceeding pre-pandemic rates across all price tiers for the fourth consecutive month. Strong economic and employment growth buoyed rent growth to a 16.5-year high, with the largest increases seen in single-family detached properties.
“Single-family rent prices continue to climb as national economic recovery, the overcrowded purchase market and deficient inventory puts pressure on the rental market,” said Molly Boesel [2], Principal Economist at CoreLogic. “With eviction moratoriums coming to a close this fall, and single-family rental inflation showing no signs of slowing over the next several months, affordability challenges may begin to pose a more urgent concern for renters.”
CoreLogic examined four tiers of rental prices, with national SFR growth across the four tiers, and the year-over-year changes, were as follows:
- Lower-priced (75% or less than the regional median): 5.9%, up from 2.4% in July 2020
- Lower-middle priced (75% to 100% of the regional median): 7.2%, up from 1.6% in July 2020
- Higher-middle priced (100% to 125% of the regional median): 8%, up from 1.7% in July 2020
- Higher-priced (125% or more than the regional median): 9.8%, up from 1.7% in July 2020
Among the 20 metro areas shown in Table 1 (below), Phoenix had the highest year-over-year increase in single-family rents in July 2021 at 18.9%. As more of the population was vaccinated and opted for summer travel, rental markets in popular tourist destinations that were hard-hit by the pandemic also showed strong signs of recovery in July, as employment began to rise in those areas.
Miami logged the second-highest rent price growth with a gain of 17%, followed by Las Vegas’ gain of 14.3%. And while Boston has consistently experienced the largest decrease in the 20 metros’ rent prices every month for a year now (with an annual decline of 0.6% in July), the area’s rate of decline is slowing compared to previous months.
