2022 higher rents still a challenge in 2023. Stat updates & policy relief notes.

 

Harvard Housing Studies center researcher Whitney Airgood-Obrycki has some rental market updates in her latest post. Here are a few takeaways, and a link to her full post below:

– RealPage data showed all time high 1Q22 rental demand of about 700k net new leases before declining by 4Q22 to a loss of 100k occupied — the first net drop in occupied units since 2009.

– CoStar data showed 1Q22 asking rents rose to a peak 11.3% growth rate YoY. This moderated to a more typical pace of 3.4% during 2022.

– Higher end apartment rent growth hit 13% in 4Q21 then fell to 2.8% by 4Q22

– But lower end apartment rent growth has held higher: 6% to start 2022 and 4.3% to end 2022.

– Renters paying 30%+ of incomes on rent hit a 20yr high of 21.6 million households in 2021.

– This was 1.2 million households more than 2019 pre-pandemic levels, and included a record 11.6 million households paying 50%+ of incomes on housing.

Whitney’s post also highlights some smart policies that are trying to help renters. And don’t miss our previous comments on the viability of the White House Renters Bill of Rights.