October Single-Family Rent Growth Triple 2020 Rate

CoreLogic, Irvine, Calif., said single-family rent growth reached 10.9 percent year-over-year in October, up more than three-fold from 3.2 percent a year ago.

Single-family rent growth hit its sixth consecutive record high in October, mirroring record price increases in the for-sale housing market, said Molly Boesel, Principal Economist with CoreLogic. “Rent growth in October 2020 had already recovered from pre-pandemic lows and rent growth this October was more than three times that of a year earlier,” she said.

In its latest Single Family Rent Index report, CoreLogic said rent prices continued their strong upward movement into the fourth quarter as SFR asset vacancy rates remained near 25-year lows. “Tight inventory in the for-sale market has also displaced many potential buyers and forced more demand into single-family rentals as their next best option,” the report said.

CoreLogic found assets with rents equal to 75 percent or less of the regional median saw 9.5 percent year-over-year increases, up from a 2.8 percent rate in October 2020. SFR assets priced between 75 percent and 100 percent of the regional median saw 10.1 percent year-over-year increases. Higher-middle priced properties (between 100 percent and 125 percent of the median) saw 11.3 percent increases. Higher-priced assets with rents exceeding 125 percent of the regional median saw the highest rent price growth at 11.4 percent, up from just 3.5 percent in October 2020.

Among the 20 largest U.S. metros, Miami reported the highest year-over-year increase in single-family rents in October at 29.7 percent, followed by Phoenix and Las Vegas at 19.3 percent and 16.5 percent, respectively. “These major metros have continued to experience rapid growth as tourism returns and local labor markets improve,” the report said. Chicago logged the lowest annual rent price growth at 4.2 percent in October, but the report noted this figure is more than double the city’s pre-pandemic rent growth rate.