Rent Prices Are Falling in These Overheated U.S. Metros—Are More to Follow in 2023?

For the past two years, Americans have been squeezed by record-setting price hikes in an overheated rental market, but as demand shifts away from mid-pandemic rental hotspots in favor of bigger cities, monthly payments are falling in some U.S. metros. Riverside, CA topped the list of metros with the fastest falling rents at the close of 2022 with a 5.5% year-over-year decrease and a November 2022 median rent of $2,071, Realtor.com reports.

Similarly, Las Vegas, NV is seeing steep rent drops with a 3% monthly decline and a 4.9% year-over-year drop in November, resulting in a median monthly rent of $1,481. While rental prices are expected to continue climbing in 2023, housing experts say the days of double-digit increases may at last be behind us. 

Rental prices in Sin City are down almost 5% compared with a year earlier and more than 3% from just a month earlier.

The steep price swings are built into the area’s DNA, says Kyle, with First Serve Realty. After all, “Las Vegas is a place for gamblers,” he adds.

And while the area has seen its share of big price fluctuations, particularly during the 2008 housing crisis when it became one of the nation’s epicenters for home foreclosures, it’s poised for continued growth, he says.

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