Asking rents posted their first monthly increase in five months in February with a $6 (0.3%) gain, suggesting that while the rental market remains cooler than normal, it may be slowly gaining steam ahead of the spring market. Typical asking rents are now $1,976, a rate still 6.3% higher than one year ago, but 0.5% below the peak of $1,987 recorded in September 2022, Zillow reports.
The steepest monthly rental declines took place in cities such as Cleveland, Jacksonville, Fla., and Salt Lake City, where costs fell -1.0%, -0.4%, and -0.4%, respectively. By contrast, rents rose the fastest in Hartford, Conn. (1.3%), Sacramento, Calif. (0.9%), and Chicago (0.8%) throughout February.
Not only did monthly rent growth in February break its 4-month streak in the red; it also climbed much closer to average pre-pandemic growth rates for that time of year. In each of the last 3 months, the monthly growth rate was 25 to 30 basis points lower than the pre-pandemic average: -0.41% in November (vs -0.11%); -0.26% in December (vs -0.01%); and -0.06% in January (vs 0.21%). But this February, growth was only 13 basis points below the 0.43% averaged at this time of year in the five years of data from 2016 to 2020.