Rent is still high, but new leases reflect a cooling market
In yesterday’s Consumer Price Index report, we saw that the cost of rent was up 8.7% year-over-year in May. That sounds like a lot, but it doesn’t fully reflect where rental prices are headed. And recent data from private firms like Redfin and Zillow show the rental market actually continuing to cool off.
When the Bureau of Labor Statistics measures the cost of rent, they include how much Americans are paying under leases signed months ago. But private companies like to measure the cost to sign a new lease now. And that second measure is looking more positive for renters, says Igor Popov, chief economist at Apartment List.
“Market rent growth has really peaked already a year ago, and has actually been cooling dramatically over the past year,” said Popov.
To be clear, rents are still going up, he says, just no longer at a breakneck pace. One reason for that? A lot of long-awaited new apartments are finishing construction, says Taylor Marr at the real estate company Redfin.
“Now the new supply is here. And it’s continuing to come. There’s nearly a million rental units right now that are under construction,” said Marr.
But those new units aren’t affordable to everyone. Most of them are geared toward middle- to upper-income households, says Jay Parsons at RealPage.
“The consequence to that is that there’s still a significant housing shortage for low and moderate income households,” said Parsons.
It’ll take more government action and subsidies, Parsons says, to fully meet demand.