National rent growth is cooling
- Reporting this week shows U.S. rent growth is decelerating compared with recent years. - CBS/WCBI coverage highlighted a national slowdown in rent inflation earlier this week. - That national softness can make top-end prospects more price-sensitive even while Chicago remains relatively strong (wcbi.com).
U.S. rent growth slowed to 1.8% in March, the weakest annual increase since December 2020, with the typical asking rent at $1,910. (zillow.com) Zillow said single-family rents rose 2.5% to $2,225 in March, the slowest growth in that series, while multifamily rents rose 1.3% to $1,757. CBS News’ report, carried by WCBI on April 23, said the slowdown gives renters some relief after years of steep increases. (zillow.com) (wcbi.com) Apartment List’s March 26 national report showed an even softer market in its own dataset: the national median rent rose 0.4% from February to $1,363 but was down 1.7% from a year earlier. The firm said rents peaked in mid-2022 after roughly 18 months of rapid growth. (apartmentlist.com) Landlords are facing more competition from new supply. Zillow said 39.8% of rental listings on its platform offered a concession in March, flat from a year earlier, while Census Bureau construction data show completions are still running at a high annual pace even after slowing from 2025. (zillow.com) (census.gov) The slowdown in new leases is not yet fully showing up in the government’s inflation gauge. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the shelter index still rose 0.3% in March, because official inflation measures tend to lag private-market asking-rent data. (bls.gov) (zillow.com) That gap helps explain why renters shopping now may see more room to negotiate even while shelter inflation remains a large part of the Consumer Price Index. Zillow said income growth is outpacing rent growth, putting about $193 a month, or $2,318 a year, back in the typical renter household’s budget. (zillow.com) The national picture is uneven by market. Zillow said renters are saving more than $3,000 a year versus recent peaks in Austin, Tampa and Denver, while Chicago’s average rent was $2,000 in early April, roughly in line with the national average rather than deeply discounted. (zillow.com 1) (zillow.com 2) For higher-end apartments, softer national growth can make prospective tenants more price-sensitive on finishes, location and concessions. The broad trend in March was simple: rents were still rising, but at the slowest pace in more than five years. (wcbi.com) (zillow.com)
