More property managers offered rent concessions in July as rent growth has slowed in some parts of the country, new data from Zillow shows.
“The share of rental listings on Zillow offering a concession — a sweetener such as free weeks of rent or free parking offered as an incentive to rent — climbed to 33.2% in July. That’s up slightly from 33% in June and 25.4% a year earlier,” Zillow said in the release.
“Builders have stepped up and built an incredible number of homes in response to soaring rents during the pandemic, and renters are now seeing the benefits,” said Skylar Olsen, Zillow chief economist, in the release.
“Now is a great time for renters to find a deal, with more new apartments hitting the market than at any time in the past several decades.
“Rents are still growing, but it’s a far cry from the steep rent hikes of two or three years ago, and renters will find sweeteners being offered by more than half of rentals in some places. A slowing job market and lower mortgage rates could mean falling rents if the current trends hold,” Olsen said.
In six major metro areas, more than half of the rental listings on Zillow are offering a concession: Raleigh (53.3%), Charlotte (53%), Atlanta (52.2%), Salt Lake City (50.9%), Nashville (50.8%) and Austin (50.5%). Four major metros have a smaller share of listings with a concession than last year, indicating a more competitive rental market. Those are San Jose (-9.7 percentage points), Baltimore (-5.6), Milwaukee (-1.8) and Pittsburgh (-0.2).
One reason for the rental-market cooldown is a multifamily construction frenzy that is opening up new options for renters and rebalancing the supply and demand seesaw. Almost 60,000 multifamily units were completed nationwide in June — the latest data available — which is more than in any month in half a century.
