The national average rent was $1,468 in February 2020—up 3.2%, or $46, from February 2019, according to data compiled in RENTCafe’s monthly rent report.
February’s year-over-year rent growth matches the pace set in January, but falls just below last year’s 3.5% YOY growth rate. Out of the nation’s largest cities, Manhattan has the most expensive average rent at $4,208 per month, while Wichita, Kan., has the lowest at $655 per month.
While the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are not yet present in official data, Yardi Matrix’s manager of business intelligence, Doug Ressler, anticipates that impact will manifest in the coming weeks.
“The economy still stands to benefit from ultra-slow rates. Home owners are refinancing while renters are seeing normalized rent growth, which reduces their monthly payments and allows them to spend in other areas,” Ressler says. “We haven’t seen the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in official data yet, as February employment growth was very strong, jobless claims did not increase, and rent growth continued its steady increase. However, the coming weeks and months will likely come with employment cuts and a slowdown in trade.”
Of the nation’s 20 largest apartment rental hubs, 14 kept rental rates below the national average in February. Five of these cities are in Texas, with Austin just below the national average at $1,439. Seattle saw the highest net increase in its average rent in one year at $113, while Houston had the lowest at $21. Chicago had the slowest YOY increase at 1.8%, followed by Houston, Manhattan, and Los Angeles at 1.9%. RENTCafe notes that New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago have had the highest internal population loss of all U.S. cities over the past decade, with many residents moving to cheaper cities nearby.
Phoenix has the fastest growing rent of the nation’s largest cities, up 9.6% YOY to $1,141. In second and third are two southern “boom towns”—Nashville came in second, up 6.3% to $1,428, while Charlotte, N.C., came in third, up 5.6% to $1,295. Mesa, Calif., has the fastest growing rent of the nation’s midsized cities, up 8.7% YOY to $1,098, while Glendale, Ariz., has the fastest growing rent out of the nation’s small cities, up 9.2% YOY to $1,045.
The average rents are derived from Yardi Matrix data, gathered via telephone survey, on market-rate multifamily properties with 50 or more rental units across the 260 largest cities in the U.S. The national average rent, also compiled by Yardi Matrix, draws from over 130 U.S. metro markets.
