Phoenix pulls ahead in multifamily rent growth

Average U.S. multifamily rents increased by $5 in May to $1,442 per month, reported Yardi Matrix’s May report.

Apartment rents increased by less than they did in the same month in 2018, and year-over-year growth fell 50 basis points from April to 2.5 percent.

The average U.S. multifamily rent has grown $14 over the past three months, which is a decent performance but far short of the levels of recent years, reports Yardi Matrix. Year-to-date through May, apartment rents were up 1.2 percent — again, good but not up to the level of the recent past. In fact, over the past six years, only in 2017 (when rents grew 1.7 percent) did rent growth fail to reach 2 percent year-to-date through May. The most recent year in which rents rose less than 1.2 percent through May was 2011, when the economy was pulling out of the recession.

Although rent gains are in line with the long-term average, 2019 is shaping up to be weaker than the previous, much more robust, years. Year