Renters Are About to Get the Upper Hand

Rents for new leases climbed only 2 percent over the past year ending in May, the biggest slowdown seen in years. And one metric says rents of apartments and single-family homes fell 0.6 percent in May 2023 compared to May 2022, which would be the second decline since the 2008 financial crisis. Demand could be dipping because a run-up in rents over the past few years pushed people to double up on households or move to less expensive locales and because of an increase in supply. Vacancies rose 2.6 percent in 2022, so renewal rates are softening as well to an increase of about 6.5 percent, down from a high of 11 percent. This cool down is leaving many apartment building investors in the red, and the price per unit to buy multifamily has sunk about 12 percent.

Source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/renters-are-about-to-get-the-upper-hand-f6387df4