Annual SFR Rent Growth in Miami, Nation Continue to Defy Gravity

Soaring single-rental family rents nationwide were paced in March by Miami, which remains the nation’s hottest rental market after seeing its prices up about 41% year over year, according to CoreLogic’s Single-Family Rent Index (SFRI).

It, along with Orlando at 24.6 percent YoY, are seeing rents accelerate at two or three times the national rate, which in March saw a YoY boost of 13.6 percent.

Phoenix came in at third, up 18.6%. Washington (7.6%) and St. Louis (7.5%) recorded the lowest annual rent price growth in March.

The year-over-year US rent price growth more than tripled the gain recorded in March 2021 and more than quadrupled the increase from March 2020, CoreLogic reported.

SFR Has Bandwidth to Charge Rent Premiums

Kori Covrigaru, CEO of PlanOmatic, tells GlobeSt.com that what he sees in the SFR space is pent up demand, and that’s the No. 1 driver for rent increases followed by record-high occupancy rates.

“SFR investors, owners and developers have the bandwidth to charge a premium for rent, plain and simple,” Covrigaru said. 

“Having said that, the other key factor in rent growth right now is inflation. It’s not only how much things cost, but it is also how much we spend. So, when you look to inflation as a factor, it makes sense. Supplies cost more, it costs more to hire people to manage these SFR properties, clean them, renovate them, and so cap rates are going down. In order to offset that, our SFR customers need to increase rent to stay profitable.”

Covrigaru said he doesn’t see rent growth declining, “but I see it leveling off as inflation slows, the Fed continues to increase interest rates, and as both the supply chain and the employment crunch issues subside.”