Report: June 2024 Rent Trends

By Lilly Milman

Jul 03, 2024

Overview

• There are only 12 cities where rent is up MoM and YoY. Half are in the Midwest.
• Rent is down MoM and YoY in the Southwest region, with Texas seeing the biggest decreases over time.
• Iowa saw the biggest rent increase MoM on the state level.

National Trends

For most cities, rent price is flat or down — but more expensive markets are still driving the national median up.

• The national median price of a one-bedroom apartment (now $1,544) increased by 0.99% from May to June, but is down 2.2% year-over-year.
• While the rent price declines seen in 45 cities on our list are not huge (the average rent decrease from May to June is only 2.43%), it’s a welcome change during peak renting season. Of these 45 cities, only 13 have higher rent prices in 2024 than they did this time last year.

Regional Trends

The Midwest

• Midwestern rents have skyrocketed since the summer of 2021. Asking rents for one-bedroom apartments are more expensive this year than in previous years across nearly all cities that we track in the region.
• Cedar Rapids (+8% MoM, +24% YoY) and Des Moines, IA (+5% MoM, +20% YoY) are seeing the biggest hikes.

The Southwest

• Of the 12 Southwestern rental markets that we track, only two saw MoM increases (Houston and El Paso, TX) and only one had a YoY increase (Tucson, AZ) for one-bedroom apartments — but each of these increases was below 1%.
• Meanwhile, in Texas, rent has been dropping since the early days of the pandemic. Nearly all Texas cities that we track hit a rent peak in July ’22, and all have been on a steady decline ever since.

Rent at the State Level

• On the state level, the same regional trends hold up: Similar to what we are seeing on the city level, the Midwest (particularly Iowa) is bearing the brunt of big rent hikes. The median rent price of a one-bedroom apartment in Iowa at the state level is up 4% MoM and 13% YoY.
• On the other end of the spectrum was Maine, where rent decreased by almost 7% MoM at the state level.

The Bottom Line