America’s rental prices continued to grow in August, as RentCafé indicates the nation’s average rent increased $47 from the previous year.
According to the company’s Apartment Market Report, the national average rent in August totaled $1,472. This is a 0.1% increase from the previous month, and also represents a 3.3% increase from the same time period in 2018.
Tara Jeffcoat, senior research analyst at Yardi Matrix, said August’s price increase highlights the growing demand for multifamily housing.
“August’s trends are a sign of solid demand for multifamily housing in the second quarter, which was supported by low unemployment and a healthy number of household formations,” Jeffcoat said. “Overall, builders and developers are reporting increased confidence in the multifamily market, and demand for new apartment units is still on the rise.”
However, despite August’s strong upward trend, RentCafé notes that the month experienced that slowest rate of growth since February. In fact, 97% of the country’s largest 260 cities saw a seasonal wind-down compared to the previous month.
“The seasonal wind-down is visible across the nation,” RentCafé writes. “253 cities displayed negligible rate changes (between -1% and 1%), three saw their rents dip and only four out of 260 registered increases since July.”
RentCafé indicates that Wichita, Kansas is once again the nation’s most affordable rental market, with an average apartment costing the typical renter $697. This is closely followed by Tulsa and Toledo, Oklahoma where rents sit at $697 and $724, respectively.
Unsurprisingly, rental markets in New York and California continue to boast the most expensive rents in the country. As of August, rents in San Francisco and Boston reached $4,272, and $3,545, respectively.
The image below highlights August’s rent changes in the nation’s top rental markets:
NOTE: By utilizing rental data provided by Yardi Matrix, RENTCafe’s research team analyzed rent data across the 260 largest cities in the country. The report is based on apartment data related to buildings containing 50 or more units.
