Single-family rent growth fell to a two-year low to start 2023, according to the latest data from CoreLogic’s Single-Family Rent Index.
- M-O-M: Single-family rent price growth was 5.7% year over year in January, down from 6.4% in December and the lowest rate of appreciation since the spring of 2021.
- Y-O-Y: Single-family rent growth is less than half the 12.6% reported in January 2022.
Lower-Priced Still Leads. Unfortunately, lower-priced rentals are still seeing the highest appreciation at 8.5% in January, down from 9.2% last month and 12.1% last year.
- Lower-middle priced rentals fell to 6.5%, higher-middle priced fell to 5.5%, and higher-priced fell to 4.3% in January.
Double-Digits No More. Not one major metro area saw double-digit appreciation for the first time since the pandemic boom. Orlando took the top spot with rents up 8.9% year-over-year, down from 10.8% in December. Charlotte was not far behind with 8% growth and New York and Boston ranked third with 7.4% growth.
- Phoenix saw the lowest annual rent price gain with a barely positive 0.6% gain in January.
Analysis. Molly Boesel, principal economist at CoreLogic, said the higher price appreciation for the lower-priced units continues to make affordability an issue. “While rent growth is slowing at all tracked price tiers, declines for the lowest-cost rentals are not as significant, which raises affordability concerns. Annual rent growth for lower-tier properties was about three times the pre-pandemic rate, while gains in the highest tier were nearly one-and-a-half times during the same period.”