Rent Growth Flat in Cities With Highest Prices

Cities with the highest rents are seeing those prices flatten, per the latest single-family rental price index report from real estate data firm CoreLogic.

In Seattle where rents were highest among the 20 metros analyzed, prices increased 0.3 percent in October 2018, down from the 4 percent rate in 2017. Principal economist Molly Boesel tells MarketWatch that the Seattle data in particular "suggests there is a limit to how much rents can increase.” Rent price appreciation also slowed in San Diego, Calif., Charlotte, N.C., Miami, and Atlanta. The cities' median rents range from $1,296 (Charlotte) to $2,547 (San Diego).

“While employment growth helps feed rent growth, this relationship doesn’t always hold up, especially for cities with very high rents,” said Boesel. “Employment growth in Seattle this October was more than double that of the U.S., but rent growth during the same time period was weak.”

Nationwide, there were also signs of a cooling property market. The rate of rental-price growth continued to slow across the markets studied. Rent prices were up 3 percent on a year-over-year basis in October, which is down from the all-time peak of 4.2 percent growth in February 2016.

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