Renter Affordability Continues to Improve

This summer’s rental market has been less active than usual, with a surge in new housing supply slowing demand. According to data from housing market platform Zillow, national asking rents remained flat at $2,007 between July and August but were up by 2.4% from last year. With rental rates slowing, affordability for renters has improved, with the typical household now using just 29% of their income to cover rent.

Similar trends were observed across the single-family rental market. For single-family homes, the average rent reached $2,292 in August, which was a slight 0.1% increase from July and 3.2% higher than the prior year.

Since the start of the pandemic, single-family rents have jumped by 44%. However, in some markets, single-family rental prices are now beginning to fall.

Single-family rents fell, on a monthly basis, in 16 major metro areas. The largest monthly drops in single-family rents are in Providence, R.I. (-1%), Buffalo (-0.9%), Austin (-0.6%), Dallas (-0.3%), and Salt Lake City (-0.3%).