by Calculated Risk on 4/04/2013 10:00:00 AM

Press Release: Trulia Reports Rents for Single-family Homes Flatten Nationwide

Heading into the spring house hunting season, asking home prices rose 7.2 percent year-over-year (Y-o-Y) nationally in March. Seasonally adjusted, prices rose 1.1 percent month-over-month and 3.5 percent quarter-over-quarter. Regionally, prices rose in 91 of the 100 largest metros.

Nearly 4 million more single-family homes have been added to the rental market since 2005 . This new supply has fully caught up with the increased rental demand during the housing crisis – causing single-family home rents to flatten nationwide. Nationally, rents rose 2.4 percent Y-o-Y. For apartments only rents rose 2.9 percent Y-o-Y, while rents for single-family homes were flat, rising just 0.1 percent Y-o-Y. In Las Vegas, Orange County, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Phoenix, where investors have actively bought and rented out single-family homes, rents are either falling or flat.
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“Investors bought up cheap houses in hard-hit markets and rented them out to people who lost their homes to foreclosure or delayed first-time homeownership,” said Jed Kolko, Trulia’s Chief Economist. “With four million more rental homes now than during the bubble, supply has expanded to meet demand, and rents are flat or falling in markets where investors are most active.”

On rents, this is similar to the Reis report yesterday on apartments. It appears that rent increases are slowing.

Note: These asking prices are SA (Seasonally Adjusted) - and adjusted for the mix of homes - and this suggests further house price increases over the next few months on a seasonally adjusted basis.