Dwellsy’s February data drop reveals that rents have decreased by a small margin, which is especially good luck for beleaguered single-family home renters.
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“Apartment-dwellers, for whom rent has stayed relatively flat over the past few years, may not feel that they’ve been that lucky,” says Jonas Bordo, CEO and cofounder of Dwellsy. “But folks who live in single-family home rentals (SFRs) are probably thrilled. After January, rent rose an unexpected 7.4 percent, so any decrease, no matter how small, is bound to be a relief.”
Bordo says it’s important to look at across-the-board nationwide trends, but he also emphasizes the need to slice out different data sets that reveal what’s going on in certain cities and with certain property types. Renters, landlords, cities, and organizations connected to the rental industry all need this information to make informed decisions, plan for the future, and respond to marketplace needs.
That’s why Dwellsy, the largest home rental listing platform in the country, regularly mines its 13+ million residential rental listings for statistics and data. Because Dwellsy allows landlords to post listings free of charge, it has a pool of data that’s more diverse—and more representative of the true rental landscape—than that of pay-to-play listing services.
Each month, Dwellsy breaks down this data so renters and landlords can see up-to-date trends in rental housing and current affordability in over 250 U.S. markets. For a more detailed look at Dwellsy’s rent price analysis methodology, see this article.
February Shows Month-Over-Month Drop, But Year-Over Year Increase for Apartment and SFR Rents
Bordo focuses on one-bedroom apartments because they are similar to two-bedroom apartments in terms of inventory, but are more price-accessible. Three-bedroom homes are also featured because they are by far the most common rental home type.
“While asking rent for three-bedroom SFRs decreased $23, or 1.2 percent, between January and February, it rose $108, or 6.3 percent, between February 2022 and February 2023,” says Bordo. “In fact, for the past two years, SFR rent has accounted for the bulk of rent increases in the U.S.”
On the other hand, asking rent for one-bedroom apartments rose just $10, or 0.8 percent, between February 2022 and 2023. It dropped $13, or 1 percent, between January and February.
“Price fluctuations in the $10 to $20 range aren’t drastic; still, if you can lock in a lease that saves you $13 per month, you’ll have saved $156 over the course of a year,” Bordo points out.
“Seeing how rental prices have changed over the last two years can be helpful in putting February’s data into a broader context,” Bordo comments. “As the graph below shows, asking rent for single-family homes has increased by a whopping 20.3 percent. Rent for one-bedroom apartments has actually decreased by 2.5 percent over the same time period.”dsadas
Top Ten Most Expensive Big Cities for Three-Bedroom Single-Family Home Rentals
As it has for the past few months, California once again claimed half of the most expensive cities for three-bedroom SFRs. Four of those cities—Los Angeles, San Jose, San Francisco, and San Diego—are in the top four spots, so if you’ve been hoping for an inexpensive pad on the Golden Coast, you might want to re-evaluate your budget.
“Boston stands out on this list because rent there decreased 2.5 percent since February 2022,” points out Bordo. “Still, when your city is the seventh most expensive in the nation, that decrease might be of limited attractiveness to new renters.”
This table shows which large cities had the most expensive February 2023 asking rent for three-bedroom single-family homes.
Most Expensive Small Cities for Three-Bedroom Single-Family Home Rentals
Once again, California is disproportionately represented, with six of these ten cities located in the Golden State. The Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Goleta metro area, which took fourth place, saw the highest rent growth with prices up 21.8 percent in the past year.
“Funnily enough, first-place Naples-Marco Island, Florida, actually saw rent prices fall 16.3 percent since February 2022,” says Bordo. “But since it’s still first place on this list by a margin of $140 dollars, that might be cold comfort to renters in this particular area of the Sunshine State.”
This table shows which small cities had the most expensive February 2023 asking rent for three-bedroom single-family homes.
Top Ten Most Expensive Large Cities for One-Bedroom Apartment Rentals
While asking rent for one-bedroom apartments hasn’t fluctuated as dramatically as SFR rents, that doesn’t mean it’s less expensive—especially in some major markets.
“Leading this group is New York City, which saw both the highest overall rent level for this type of apartment and the highest year-over-year rent increase: 12.8 percent,” says Bordo. “Meanwhile, Washington, DC, and Los Angeles have seen less than 1 percent of rent growth, and San Diego actually experienced a 5.6 percent decrease.”
This table shows which large cities had the most expensive February 2023 asking rent for one-bedroom apartments.
Top Ten Most Expensive Small Cities for One-Bedroom Apartment Rentals
If you assume that smaller cities have smaller rents for one-bedroom apartments, you’d be incorrect—at least for these ten cities. While none of them are at NYC levels, rent in all of them exceeds $1,700 a month.
“The Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Goleta metro area tops this list, with a one-bedroom apartment coming in at $2,186 per month,” says Bordo. “But second-place Ithaca, New York, is perhaps the most eye-popping market on this list. Rent for one-bedroom apartments there has risen 52.6 percent since February 2022.”
This table shows which small cities had the most expensive February 2023 asking rent for one-bedroom apartments.
