Gas, groceries and many other necessary costs have been getting more expensive recently, thanks to historic inflation. However, renters in certain markets are finally seeing circumstances tip in their favor as a number of major metro areas have seen rates fall year over year.
This adjustment couldn’t come soon enough for budget-conscious renters. Fortunately, the forecast is favorable for continued rent declines, as month-over-month rents are down nationwide by 2.5 percent, per the October, 2022 Rent Report, and more of the same is expected on the heels of a cooling housing market. Landlords are also henpecked by inflation costs, as renters are paying more for everything else and can’t afford to foot the bill for higher housing costs. As a result, people are trending toward smaller places, living with roommates and other cost-cutting maneuvers.
Here are the 11 major metro areas that have seen the greatest year-over-year rent decreases, as of October, 2022.
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA
The Atlanta metro has long been known for its music scene, traffic and fairly affordable housing prices, and it continues to make good on its reputation for all three. Currently the average rent price for a unit in The ATL is $1,991 per month, down 2.24 percent year-over-year. This is a far cry from one year ago, when the average unit rented for slightly more at $2,036.75. Rent prices in the Peach State’s capital city peaked in May of 2022, at $2,149 per month but have steadily decreased since then. In the last month alone, rent prices have dipped by 4.45 percent, which equates to $92.75 in savings. Much of this decrease is attributed to higher inventory, as a number of new communities in the area are offering perks, special rates and other deals that are tough to compete with.
Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, TX
The metro area in and around Austin has enjoyed immense growth in the last decade thanks in large part to its eclectic community and diverse job market. However, the area also saw low housing inventory, which made rentals far more expensive than other comparable cities. Now that construction is booming, the situation is poised to change. The median price for a unit in the Austin metro is $2,187, a 2.33 percent decrease from the same time last year, when median rents were $2,239. This is a savings of more than $50 per month. That cost is still far cheaper than the peak in May, 2022, however, when the average unit ran for $2,662. Prices so far, however, haven’t gone back to the lowest levels logged 18 months ago, when the same rental cost significantly less, at $1,898.
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA/NH
Rent prices in the general Boston area make other metros look cheap by comparison. That said, the New England metro of Boston-Cambridge-Newton is down 2.4 percent year-over-year to a median rent of $3,621. Although still a pretty big chunk of change, it’s almost a hundred dollars less than this time last year, when the same unit rented for $3,713. It’s also a huge drop from peak prices, which came in June of 2022 at a whopping $4,087.
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA
The Seattle metro area is one of the most desirable places to live in the Pacific Northwest. It also has some heftiest cost of living expenses. Fortunately, those seem to be on the way down, as year-over-year rental rates slid by 2.7 percent, to a median monthly price of $2,950. Like Boston, the Seattle metro area’s rents peaked in June of 2022, at $3,347 per month. Since then, rates have steadily dropped, with median rents going for a full $400 less! After that significant spike, rental rates have come much more in line with rates a year ago when the median rent was $3,031.
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD
Charm City’s metro has a lot going for it, from harbor access to proximity to the nation’s capital, but there’s always been a lower inventory of rental properties compared with similar areas. This fact led many people to buy their own home while interest rates were still low, which has opened up some availability in the rental market. The Baltimore metro currently offers apartments at a median monthly rate of $2,008, a 3.2 percent year-over-year dip. In other words, the exact same unit would have cost a renter $2,075 only one year ago. Although the metro did see a price uptick to $2,118 in June of 2022, rental rates have declined steadily since then. In fact, current Baltimore area rental rates are the lowest that the area has enjoyed in at least 18 months.
Minneapolis-St Paul-Bloomington, MN/WI
The Minneapolis metro area has enjoyed one of the biggest year-over-year rental discounts so far, thanks in large part to the construction boom the area has experienced recently. Renters these days will pay a full 7.8 percent less for the average unit than they would have one year ago. Currently, a median rents are at $1,748 per month, nearly $150 less than in October 2021 when the same space cost $1896. That said, prices are actually up slightly over last month, from $1,734. Interestingly, rent prices in the Minneapolis metro actually peaked well before any other city on our list, in July 2021, when rates topped $1,909. After that period, rent prices began to decline steadily, with a couple of rent-inflating hiccups here and there.
Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI
The Milwaukee-Waukesha metro saw by far the steepest drop in rent prices, at a whopping 17.6 percent year-over-year. Some of this is likely due to a better supply/demand ratio for the area, which has traditionally struggled with not enough rentals to suit the population. The median rent currently goes for $1,625 per month, a decline of nearly $350 from $1,972 in October 2021, which was the area’s highest rental rate in the last 18 months. Rent prices in that region have been anything but static since that peak, dropping to $1,727 only two months later in December, then to an 18-month low of $1,565 in January 2022. They’ve ebbed and flowed a bit since then, but have stayed in the lower third of the $1,600s for the past couple of months.
Honorable Mention Metros
Four additional metro areas saw rent declines worth mentioning, and three of them are among the nation’s top 10 most populous—Houston, Chicago and Los Angeles.Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX saw the smallest decline at only 0.8 percent, year-over-year. A unit there will currently set a person back $1,732 per month. Next, is the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL metro, where median rents go for $2,460, a decrease of 1.08 percent year-over-year. The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metro area also enjoyed a 1.1 percent decrease since this time last year with a current median rental rate of $3,416. Lastly, the Columbus, OH metro enjoyed a nearly 1.7 percent rent drop. Residents there pay only $1,502 per month, by far the most affordable on our list
Methodology
We analyzed rental property prices in October 2022, the last full month of data, from Rent.’s available inventory to identify our median rent prices at the national, state and metro levels. Our analysis combines inventory and bedroom types into one simple median that covers all available rental units at the time.
The top 50 metropolitan areas in our analysis are determined by U.S. Census Bureau population estimates for 2021.
More detailed information about our methodology can be found here.
The rent information included in this article is used for illustrative purposes only. The data contained herein do not constitute financial advice or a pricing guarantee for any apartment.The information contained in this article is for educational purposes only and does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal or financial advice. Readers are encouraged to seek professional legal or financial advice as they may deem it necessary.
