Rent prices are living rent-free in the heads of millions of Americans, but relief is on the way. According to John Burns Research and Consulting, a record-breaking 93K new rental homes were built last year, with another 99K in the pipeline for this year (WSJ). While the growth in rent prices for single-family homes has slowed from a peak of 13.4% in 2022, they still went up by 5% in Mar. 2024 compared to the previous year, as reported by Zillow. This persistent uptick in rent prices is seen as one of the reasons why inflation remains stubbornly above 3%. However, the surge in new rental properties is a positive development for many, although it might not be welcomed by everyone.

• In fact, the increase in rent prices for single-family homes could follow the path of the multi-family sector, where rent growth has slowed faster — having risen just 2.7% in March as a flood of new supply hit the market (FC).
• The slowdown is particularly noticeable in areas like Phoenix and Texas, where construction boomed during the pandemic to accommodate an influx of residents — so much so that Texas is now fighting an oversupply of apartments.

Forward-looking: An exec of asset manager Heitman predicts more “older millennials and retirees to rent as median home prices have grown at twice the pace of median incomes since 2000” (WSJ). This trend has continued to benefit US homebuilders like PulteGroupPHM

and LennarLEN

, whose stocks have climbed over 10% this year, adding to their impressive gains of more than 200% in the past five years.