by Calculated Risk on 11/15/2022 09:21:00 AM

From CoreLogic: Annual Single-Family Rent Growth Decelerates for Fifth Consecutive Month and Seasonal Patterns Return

Consistent evidence of a single-family rental market cooldown follows nearly two years of above-trend rental price hikes. Single-family rent growth in September 2022 slowed for the fifth consecutive month to 10.2% from a high of 13.9% in April 2022. Additionally, rent growth this September was slightly below that of September 2021. The rent increase slowdown comes as inflation stretches tenants’ pocketbooks.

“Annual single-family rent growth decelerated for the fifth consecutive month in September but remained at more than twice the pre-pandemic growth rate,” said Molly Boesel, principal economist at CoreLogic. “High mortgage interest rates may be causing potential homebuyers to hit pause and remain renters, keeping pressure on rent prices. However, the monthly rent change was negative in September, resuming the typical seasonal pattern for the first time since 2019, which could signal the beginning of rent price growth normalization.”

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph from CoreLogic shows the YoY change in single-family rents.

Year-over-year rent growth slowed to 10.2% in September - and the month-over-month change was negative in September.