Rent growth has continued into the second quarter of 2023. The April 2023 Apartment List National Rent Report shows the national rent index increased by 0.5% during March, marking the second consecutive month of increases.
Year-over-year rent growth is at its lowest point since April 2021 at 2.6%. This is also below the 2.8% average rent growth seen from 2018 to 2019. Rent growth climbed in 78 of the country’s 100 largest cities, while only 62 cities witnessed increases in the previous month. Meanwhile, 28 cities have negative year-over-year rent growth, up three cities from the last month.
The four fastest-growing metros—Miami, Houston, Chicago and Louisville, Ky.—were at 0% over the past six months. Cities five through 10, including Minneapolis, Indianapolis and Baltimore, were at -1% growth during the past six months. While Midwest cities like Chicago, Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio, peppered the fastest-growing rent list over the past 12 months, Sun Belt markets continue to top the list of rent growth since the pandemic began. Those cities include Tampa, Fla. (39%), Tucson, Ariz., and Miami—the latter two at 37% rent growth in the past three years.
Rochester, N.Y., was the slowest growing metro at -7% during the past six months. Western cities such as Phoenix, Las Vegas and Sacramento, Calif., were the slowest-growing metros during the past 12 months. While rent growth plummeted during the initial stages of the pandemic in coastal cities, some have rebounded. This includes Boston, Los Angeles and New York: All in double-digit rent growth territory during the past three years. However, San Francisco is at -4% rent growth, the slowest metro during the past three years.