In October, the apartment rental market experienced a decline in rent growth, according to reports from Yardi Matrix and RealPage. The average U.S. asking rent decreased by $3 to $1,718 with a 0.4% annual growth rate reported by Yardi Matrix while RealPage noted flat year-over-year asking rent growth at 0.1%, but a significant monthly drop of 0.56% in net effective rents – the largest since the Great Recession.
Yardi Matrix’s top 30 metros saw negative rent growth in fourteen markets due to an influx of supply and rapid increases over the past two and a half years, particularly in Sun Belt regions.
RealPage also attributed this trend to high levels of new construction: “The nation’s biggest apartment construction spree in over fifty years has resulted in strong demand for apartments through early 2022.”
However, there was some positive news for single-family rentals as Yardi Matrix reported only a slight decrease of $2 (to $2,121) with an overall increase of 1% year-over-year.
Overall, October showed signs that apartment fundamentals are slowing down compared to previous months.
