Multifamily housing had another record-breaking rent-growth month in May, according to the latest Yardi Matrix National Rent Report.
The company said that national rents recorded “their greatest increase in the history of our data set. All Top 30 metros had positive month-over-month rent growth for the second consecutive month, with New York’s rent growth far surpassing the other metros.”
Highlights of the Yardi Matrix report on record-breaking rent growth:
- Multifamily rents increased by 2.5 percent year-over-year in May, which is almost exactly where rent growth was in March 2020 when the pandemic began spreading in the United States. Many metros have recovered and surpassed pre-pandemic rent-growth numbers.
- Rents grew $12 in May to $1,428, the largest one-month increase in Yardi’s data set’s history. The 0.8 percent month-over-month growth rate was the largest since June 2015. For the second month, all Top 30 metros had positive month-over-month rent growth and 90 percent had month-over-month gains of 0.5 percent or more.
- Yardi Matrix now includes single-family rental units exclusively in built-to-rent communities. “Our data set covers more than 90,000 units nationwide. The pandemic has driven demand for single-family rentals, and the SFR industry boasted 7.3 percent year-over-year rent growth as of May.”
Overall, New York had the strongest month-over-month rental growth at 3.4 percent. The report said New York may be different than other markets going forward since many brokerages and banks are requiring their workers to return to the office this summer. Unlike New York, many tech cities like Seattle may see a slower return as tech workers are more able to work remotely.
Portland also showed strong month-over-month rent increase at 1.1 percent, along with Chicago and Las Vegas.
Tracking single-family rentals
Yardi Matrix said they are now tracking single-family rentals as an asset class. Their data shows there are 90,000 units in 7,000 communities they can track.
Phoenix, the Inland Empire in California, and Detroit have the largest number of single-family rentals the report said.
“The pandemic has fueled even more demand, and new institutional investors are pursuing the sector every day. The current constraints to purchase a home coupled with demand for more space is fueling strong rent and occupancy growth across metros,” Yardi Matrix said in the report.
For the full report please visit https://www.yardimatrix.com/Publications
