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Tenants have yet another reason to dread the first of the month: more than half of U.S. cities have experienced double-digit rent hikes in the past year, according to a new report from Zumper, an apartment-rental website.
While median one-bedroom rental prices have predictably skyrocketed in some of the country’s most expensive cities year-over-year, hitting $3,930 in New York City and $3,040 in San Francisco this month, tenants in smaller cities like Fresno and Tulsa have also faced big increases of about 40%, according to Zumper.
(Zumper’s data also shows rents in New York City, which boasts the highest prices in the country, vary by borough. The median rent for a two-bedroom in Brooklyn has jumped to $4,506, a staggering 61% year-over-year increase, while two-bedrooms in Manhattan are up 33%, hitting $5,283 in August.)
In fact, as the cost of living rises nationwide, only two cities in Zumper’s “Top 100” list have endured a year-over-year decline: Des Moines, where median rents for one bedrooms are down 12% over the past year, and Cleveland, where median rents for one bedrooms are down 5.4%.
“Only two cities in Zumper’s “Top 100” list have experienced a year-over-year decline: Des Moines and Cleveland.”
That means tenants aren’t getting cut much — if any — slack on their rent as they’re made to cope with higher energy bills and food costs, too.
“Current asking rents are simply out of reach for many Americans, especially young people,” Zumper CEO Anthemos Georgiades said in a blog post about the company’s findings.
“We’ve seen Zumper users sacrifice on space, location, amenities and roommates for years; more recently, we’ve noticed some are getting creative as they search for an affordable home,” he added. “Many renters are turning to short-term rentals to fill a temporary gap in housing, especially if they can’t afford hefty deposits and move-in fees.”
Because of this, Zumper announced the launch of its own short-term rental product last week.
There is some good news in Zumper’s new report. Prices in popular cities in the Southeast, where the rental market has been white-hot throughout the pandemic, are starting to moderate. And, while rents in ultra-pricey Miami continue to increase — the median cost of a one-bedroom is at $2,520 — they’re up only 0.8% over the past month.
“In the new (ab)normal of 2022, anything under a full percentage point of month-over-month growth can be considered modest — especially compared to this spring, when Miami was the third most expensive city in the United States (it’s since fallen to sixth),” Zumper said in a blog post.
