The median asking rent is seeing sharp declines in several cities in the United States as the pandemic-era demand begins to ease.
The median asking rent fell the most in the Sun Belt, where nine out of 10 metros saw a steep decline, according to a new Redfin report published Friday. Leading the list is Austin, Texas, where the median rent fell 6.6% year over year in April.
Runners-up include Nashville, Tennesee, where rents fell 5.9%; Jacksonville, Florida, 5.6%; Miami, 5%; San Diego, 4.7%; Phoenix, 4.6%; Charlotte, North Carolina, 4.5%; Tampa, Florida, 4.3%; and Orlando, Florida, 3.2%.
The 10th metro area, and the only one out of the Sun Belt, seeing the highest drop in asking rent is Seattle, where rents fell 7% year over year in April.
"The Sun Belt has built a ton of new apartments in recent years, partly to meet the surge in demand brought on by the flood of people who moved in during the pandemic housing boom. But the boom is over, and now property owners are struggling to fill vacancies, which is causing rents to fall," Redfin Senior Economist Sheharyar Bokhari said in the report.
"The good news is that the uptick in housing supply in the Sun Belt has improved affordability for renters, which can be a lesson for other American cities grappling with housing affordability challenges," Bokhari added.
Median Asking Rent in the US
Despite falling in these metro areas, the decline is not seen nationwide. In fact, the median asking rent in the country rose by 1.1% in April to $1,648. This marks the first gain in a year as home builders are struggling to construct houses fast enough to meet the growing demand. It also marks a 1.7% increase from the national median asking rent in March.
Rents are climbing the fastest in the Midwest, which has not seen home constructions as much as the Sun Belt. In Minneapolis, for example, the median asking rent jumped by 10.3% year over year in April.
Redfin analyzed metro-level data on apartment asking rents in 33 major metropolitan areas in the US.
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