Rental Prices Went up 3 Percent Nationally, Almost 9 Percent in Some Markets in 2017

A new analysis of U.S. rental prices found that the median rent rose 3.1 percent in 2017. Since the end of 2012 when housing prices bottomed out, rent prices overall have increased 19.6 percent.

The estimated U.S. median home price rose 6.2 percent in 2017, outpacing the 3.1 percent increase in estimated median rents for the top 100 markets. Trulia's analysis shows that housing prices nationally rose at an annual rate of 5.8 percent since 2012, but estimated median rent rose only 3.6 percent annually during the same period. The site concludes that as price appreciation surpasses rents, the financial benefits of buying a house fall.

Perhaps not surprisingly, rents rose the most in places where rents were already high. San Francisco leads the nation in estimated median rent at $4,000 monthly, it also has seen the seventh-biggest five-year increase (37.9 percent) among the nation’s 100 biggest housing markets. In San Jose, Calif., where rents rose 40 percent since 2012, the estimated median rent is now $3,500, second only to San Francisco.

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