COVID-19 shifts apartment demand away from high-priced markets
Rent price growth in pricey metros was on a downward trend in April as renters – many of whom are working from home during COVID-19 – look for more affordable options outside of the high-end cities, Zumper reported Monday.
Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, April's annual rent growth rate slowed to its lowest level since 2014, according to a recent Zillow report.
Overall, the national rents of both one- and two-bedroom apartments edged down 0.5%, settling at $1,217 and $1,473, respectively. San Francisco, the most expensive city in the US, posted a record-low year-over-year drop in one-bedroom rent, down 9.2% to $3,360 – the lowest price point in over three years.
Similarly, the next three priciest markets all saw negative annual one-bedroom rent changes. New York's one-bedroom rent held steady at $2,950, while two-bedrooms dipped 1.2% to $3,220. One-bedroom rent in Boston tumbled 2% to $2,450, while two-bedrooms remained flat at $2,900. San Jose, at the top four in the list, reported a 1.6% drop in one-bedroom rent ($2,420) and a 3% decrease in two-bedroom rent ($2,950).
Meanwhile, Oakland, Calif., rounded off the top 5 markets with both one- and two-bedroom rents inching up 0.4% to $2,350 and $2,850, respectively.
"Looking at monthly changes, all of the top 10 priciest cities either had flat or declining rents," Zumper wrote in a blog post. "It seems the pandemic has shifted the demand for apartments away from the most expensive cities, since usually demand picks up as we head into summer, but now the opposite is true. As more and more companies move into remote work, many renters don’t want to pay the big city price tag when they are unable to use the amenities and are looking for more affordable options outside of large, metropolitan areas."
