Slower Apartment Rent Growth in November Resembles Historical Norms
Zumper Index suggested that this could be the trend for the foreseeable future.
For the first time this year, a slower pace of rent growth that more closely resembles historical norms is being reported in November by Zumper’s National Rent Index.
While it’s just one month of data, there are plenty of reasons to think rent growth is beginning to normalize, Zumper said.
“Rent tends to move in a seasonal pattern, where rent is generally up in the spring and summer, and then generally drops in the late fall and winter. This tracks with when people tend to move; the more people moving, the more landlords can charge in rent.”
But the seasonal pattern was broken by the pandemic, as people moved in waves to adjust to a new reality of city lockdowns and working from home.
Median 1-BR Rents Up 12% This Year
The result was that rent has been rising at an alarming rate all over the country throughout 2021. It’s hard to overstate how dramatic rent growth has been in 2021. Through 11 months of the year, Zumper’s National Rent index shows the median one-bedroom rent up 12.1%, while two-bedrooms are up even more at 13.2%.
For context, the median one-bedroom rent rose by a mere 0.3% in all of 2019, and it was up just 0.6% in 2020.
Florida’s Rapid Rent Growth Paced US
Large cities in Florida have experienced some of the most rapid rent growth in the country. In particular, rent in Tampa Bay and St. Petersburg has grown so much since the pandemic that both cities have risen substantially on Zumper’s 100 most expensive markets in the United States.
Of the 100 most populous cities in the country, four Florida cities are among the seven that have seen rent rise the most in 2021—Miami (1st), St. Petersburg (3rd), Tampa Bay (5th), and Orlando (7th).
Like a lot of places on the West Coast, the Seattle metropolitan area saw rent drop after the pandemic hit in March 2020. But now 18 months later, Seattle and its neighboring areas are posting sizable year-over-year gains in rent, and rent in Seattle itself is almost back to where it was prior to the pandemic.