The price of single-family rental homes continues to spike in the U.S., particularly in the country’s Sun Belt.
Red-hot Miami led the pack, with prices climbing 41 percent in March compared to the year before, according to the latest report on single-family rentals from CoreLogic.
While analysts have been waiting to see whether rent prices would taper off amid a shifting market, a new analysis found rent rose 13.6 percent, driven primarily by low inventory and high home sale prices.
“A shortage of single-family properties available for rent has plagued the market, pushing rents up at record-level rates,” said Molly Boesel, principal economist at CoreLogic. “The number of single-family rental properties listed in early 2022 was well below pre-pandemic levels and still shrinking from one year ago.”
It was the second report in less than a month to confirm that rents are rising faster than ever this year. Zumper reported that all rents rose at nearly double the rate from the year before to start 2022.
The growth rate for single-family homes was more than triple that recorded in March 2021, and more than four times higher than the increase in March 2020, according to the CoreLogic report.
The country’s Sun Belt — particularly several markets in Florida — are seeing the fastest growth, at times growing at three or four times the national rate.
Several of the markets where rent is rising fastest also saw significant interest by real estate investors who have flocked to markets off of the nation’s coasts, sometimes buying whole neighborhoods of single-family homes and renting them out.
“Rent price appreciation slowed in early 2020 due to the uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic but rebounded by autumn of that year to surpass its pre-pandemic rate,” the report said.
Homes that are 100 percent to 125 percent of the regional median rose fastest, at 14.6 percent year-over-year.
Rent for homes classified as lower-priced, meaning they cost 75 percent or less than the regional median price, rose the least, at 3.3 percent.
Fastest rent growth, March 2022
- Miami: 40.7 percent
- Orlando: 24.6 percent
- Phoenix: 18.6 percent
Washington and St. Louis saw the lowest annual price increase for the month, at 7.6 percent and 7.5 percent, respectively.
The report found that the gap in price growth between single-family and attached homes has closed.
