A lack of new single-family home construction and a change in demographics that favors rental housing have steadily driven rent prices in most markets, according to Freddie Mac.
Millennials are moving out on their own and Baby Boomers are looking to downsize. New renter households have increased by nine million over the last decade, the largest increase ever. An estimated 4.7 million more people will become renters through 2025.
Over the past four years, rents, nationally, rose an average of 4.5 percent annually. So far this year, rents have been rising at a more modest rate of 3 percent annually well above the target inflation rate of 2 percent.
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