Finance 0

National Average Rents Up 2.5% From Year Ago

By Kurt Osterberg · On April 2, 2018

Looking for inflation? One place you can find it is in national rent averages.

The Rent Cafe reports National Apartment Rents Hit a 14-Month Growth Plateau in March Amid Small City Boom.

The national average rent was $1,371 in March 2018, 2.5 percent higher than this time last year, and up 0.3 percent ($4) month over month, according to data from Yardi Matrix.

86 percent of the nation’s biggest 250 cities have seen rents grow in March year over year, in 12 percent of cities rents remained unchanged, while only 2 percent experienced rent drops compared to 2017.

29 of the top 30 fastest growing rents are in small cities, including Reno, Tacoma, and Orlando.

Among the largest U.S. cities, Las Vegas, Denver, and Phoenix had the fastest rising prices in March, while Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Portland the slowest.

National Average

Significant Changes

Highest and Lowest?

Methodology

The report includes cities with populations over 100,000 and a rental stock of at least 2,900 apartments in 50+ unit buildings.

Large cities are cities with a population of 600,000 people or more, mid-sized cities are cities with a population between 300,000 and 600,000, and small cities are cities with a population of less than 300,000.

National averages include 130 markets.

In an email, the Rent Cafe confirmed the national average is weighted by population.That is how it should be. Larger cities should factor in more than smaller ones.

Rent inflation and deflation vary widely.

Year-Over-Year Hourly Earnings