Renters may finally catch a break in 2024 as a report predicts rent prices will "soften" in some cities in the first half of 2024.
In an Annual Rent Report released by rental marketplace website Zumper, 55 out of 100 cities analyzed have seen rent prices drop since last year. At least 17 cities were also flat year-over-year.
In addition, the national one-bedroom median price went down year-over-year by 0.1% to $1,496. The median price for a one-bedroom home also went down 0.2% from last month, the analysis found.
The report predicted that rent prices will keep falling through the first half of 2024. The cost of renting a one-bedroom apartment could also drop by larger margins in 2024 in cities where the housing inventory catches up with the demand.
"This trend is most pronounced in some of the pandemic's most popular Zoomtowns, including
Phoenix and Austin," the report read. "Texas cities-especially Austin and Dallas-have been extremely bullish in bringing new multifamily developments to market."
In addition, Denver, Las Vegas, and Salt Lake City have also been attracting new residents for years. However, Zumper noted that the rental markets may have more empty housing units than there are would-be renters.
"Several cities in the Intermountain region are nearing oversupply," Anthemos Georgiades, CEO of Zumper, explained. "We expect prices in these cities to fall more quickly than the national average."
Where Rent Prices Dropped in 2023
Rent prices in five metropolitan areas saw a significant drop over the past year, according to a Realtor.com report. These decreased by 6% in Orlando, Florida; 5.5% in Portland, Oregon; 5.4% in Austin, Texas; and 4.1% in both Dallas, Texas, and Riverside, California.
Apart from a significant drop in rent prices, asking rents also went down in November by 2.1% year over year, according to Redfin's most recent news release. It was the biggest decline recorded since February 2020.
"Renters are finally catching a break. Better deals are easier to come by because landlords are doling out concessions, and rents have started falling in a meaningful way. Rising supply also means renters have more good options to choose from," said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather.
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