Apartment rents aren’t getting any lower across the country. In fact, they reached a new high in April. That’s the good news for landlords and owners from the latest market report released by Yardi Matrix.
According to the report, the average national apartment rental rate rose $13 in April to hit $1,194. That marks the fourth consecutive month in which national rental rates hit a new high.
What’s behind the continued rise in rental rates? Yardi Matrix pointed to several factors, including high apartment occupancy rates in markets across the country, a growing number of both Millennials and older residents renting by choice and strong jobs growth. The fact that rents typically rise in the spring months helped account for April’s new high, too.
The average national apartment rent rose 1.1 percent from March to April. Even more impressive is that rents rose 6 percent this April when compared to the same month one year earlier.
Yardi Matrix researchers say that conditions continue to be supportive of steady rent growth. Nationally, the occupancy rate for stabilized and completed apartment properties stood at 96 percent as of February. Vacancies will increase in some submarkets this year as the country adds more than 300,000 apartment units this year. But most metropolitan areas have not yet been overbuilt when it comes to apartments, according to Yardi Matrix.
