No June swoon here. Despite economic deceleration in other sectors, multifamily housing performance remained robust during the month, with average asking rents up $19 from May.
That’s according to Yardi Matrix, which also reported monthly rent growth of 1.1% (unchanged from May) and yearly rent growth of 13.7%, down 50 basis points from May. June marked the fourth straight month of decelerating year-over-year rent growth, although rents remain remarkably stout for 2022 as a whole.
Year-to-date gains were higher than any previous year on record as rents were up 5.7% (or $73) through midyear. June’s increase brought the national average asking rent to $1,706 — a new all-time high.
Florida metro areas continue to top the list for annual rent growth, with Orlando (24%), Miami (23.4%) and Tampa (20.3%) leading the 30 metros tracked by Yardi in year-over-year rent increases. Asking rents grew by at least 10% annually in 25 of 30 markets, and even the cities that showed the slowest growth — San Francisco (9.7% year-over-year rent gains), Baltimore (9.7%) and Minnesota’s Twin Cities (5.1%) — continued to maintain “relatively solid performance,” Yardi reported.
On a short-term basis, each of the top 30 metros logged monthly rent gains in June, led by San Jose (2.1%), Raleigh (1.9%) and Seattle (1.8%). Nineteen of the 30 tracked markets exceeded the national average for monthly rent growth.
Demand, however, remains on a cooling trajectory in Sun Belt and Western metros, a trend that could foreshadow further rent-growth deceleration in the months ahead. With the U.S. labor market still strong, rents are still expected to increase but at a slower pace as the year goes on. Inflation and rising interest rates have kept more Americans in the renter pool, but inflation also has dented many tenants’ ability to afford increasing apartment rents.
