Apartment rent gains are catching up to home prices. Preliminary estimates for the first quarter of 2022 show a 16.8 percent lift in average effective apartment rents in the United States, slightly faster than the annual price leap for homes, according to Marcus & Millichap. The formidable apartment rent increase is facilitated by extremely tight vacancy, with tenants competing for record-low volumes of available units in markets across the United States.
National rental vacancy is estimated at just 2.4 percent for March 2022, almost 200 basis points below the 2019 register. Metros across the Sun Belt are recording the steepest rent climbs relative to home-price growth. The six largest Florida markets, along with Charlotte and Atlanta, each had 2021 average effective rent jumps that were 1.5 times faster than their respective median home price rises. Young adults are moving to these markets in waves, aligning well with apartment demand.
Single-family rentals are no
