Landlords are lowering rent prices thanks to an “apartment-building boom,” according to Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather.
“Median monthly rent prices hit a high of over $2,000 in 2023, mainly due to high mortgage payments that pushed potential buyers into the rental market instead,” she told Fox News Digital. “However, prices have since changed due to an apartment-building boom. There are many vacant properties right now, and the supply jump has caused landlords to lower prices.”
In November, median rents were $1,967, according to data from Rent.com. Within the past 12 months, rents peaked in August 2023 to $2,052.
Fairweather also pointed to Americans who moved around the country during COVID as having driven up rental costs. But that trend has since slowed.
“People were also moving at a rapid rate during the pandemic, so rentals were in high demand,” she said.
“There are other factors also contributing to lower rent prices, such as slower-growing household formation and economic uncertainty,” she continued. “Household formation slowed in 2022, which tempered rental demand after the pandemic moving frenzy.”
The cause of that “pandemic moving frenzy” was partially because of the economy but also because “factors like inflation and high interest rates all discourage household formation,” the economist said.
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