Single-family rent growth in March decreased to an annualized rate of 4.3%, marking almost a full year of slowing gains, according to CoreLogic.
March was the 11th consecutive month of year-over-year deceleration, with gains slowing to their slowest rate since February 2021. Single-family rents are continuing to rise, however, with the cumulative increase since February 2020 now at 23.2%.
“Single-family rent price gains continued to slow year over year in March, with growth at about one-third of the rate as observed one year earlier,” said Molly Boesel, principal economist at CoreLogic. “The slowdown is more pronounced in the higher-priced tier, where growth is now about the same as it was before the pandemic. However, gains in the lower tier are still twice the pre-pandemic rate, with all tracked metro areas posting increases at that price level.”
Indeed, the lowest tier of prices saw the highest annualized rent growth in March at 6.7%, down substantially from 13.4% one year prior but still leading all tiers. This suggests that tenants are still competing for affordability in a landscape where low-cost rentals remain in short supply. Lower middle-priced rentals saw rents grow 5.3%, down from 14.1% in March 2022. Higher middle-priced and higher-priced rentals have seen their rent gains drop much further in comparison, up 4.3% and 2.9% year over year, respectively.
Among metros tracked by CoreLogic, Charlotte saw the highest year-over-year increase in single-family rents in March at 7.7%, followed by Orlando at 6.6% and St. Louis at 6.4%. These increases, however, pale in comparison to the increases among the top metros in March 2022, when Sun Belt cities like Orlando and Miami were topping 20% and even 40% in annual gains. On the flipside, Las Vegas and Phoenix each saw single-family rents slide on an annual basis, dipping 2% from 12 months ago.
