St. Louis has one of the lowest levels of single-family rents among major U.S. cities, but it might not stay that way for long.
A report released this week by CoreLogic showed that the city had the highest year-over-year single-family rent growth in May among the 20 major markets analyzed. With a 6.2% annualized increase, the growth marks the second month in a row that St. Louis outpaced the other markets in the report.
Nationally, single-family rents jumped 3.2% year over year in May, which is in line with growth rates in the decade prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.
“While the annual rent growth in higher-priced properties picked up momentum, lower-priced properties saw a slowdown in growth and had the lowest annual rent increase of any price tier in May,” CoreLogic principal economist Molly Boesel said in a statement. “However, even though growth for lower-priced rentals has slowed, properties in this price range saw gains of more than 30% over the last four years.”
The metro areas that rounded out the top five for year-over-year growth in May are ones that are often synonymous with expensive rents. Seattle and New York each posted a 5.9% gain, followed by San Francisco (5.2%) and Chicago (4.8%).
Markets that were among the hottest during the rent explosions of 2021 and 2022 have cooled considerably, which is reflected in their rent-growth rates. Austin posted a year-over-year decline of 0.6%, which followed a 1% dip in April.
Rents in Phoenix dropped by 0.3% compared to May 2023. Miami saw an increase of 0.2%, a marginal gain after posting a 1.8% decline in April. Other notable markets include Boston (+4.2%), Houston (+3.3%), Los Angeles (+2.9%), and Dallas (+1.8%).
CoreLogic also breaks down rent growth into four price tiers. The two highest-priced tiers posted faster year-over-year growth in May 2024 than they did in May 2023. The lowest price tier’s annual growth rate fell from 5.3% in May 2023 to 1.2% in May 2024, while growth for the second-lowest price tier fell from 3.8% to 3.4% during the year.
