Richmond rent is finally falling — a little
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
After a year of surging rents, prices are starting to dip — if only just a little.
Why it matters: The average rent in Richmond was up around 12% earlier this year and a whopping 24% since the start of the pandemic — and showed no signs of slowing down.
- Some locals were getting hit hard at lease renewal time with landlords jacking monthly rates by hundreds of dollars just for tenants to stay put.
What's happening: Asking rent in Richmond declined by about 1.5% since the beginning of October, Michael Cobb, director of market analytics for CoStar Group, tells Axios.
- Zillow puts the monthly drop at .60%.
- Month-over-month prices are falling fastest in Raleigh (-1.3%), Austin (-1.2%), and Seattle (-1.1%), according to Zillow.
Yes, but: Rents aren't falling in every part of town. The West End saw a 2.4% increase since October, Cobb said, possibly due to "spillover pressure" from renter-magnet Scott's Addition.
Meanwhile, the biggest declines in the region were in eastern Henrico, where rent fell by 4.2%, and in Petersburg, where it dropped by 2.8%.
- Cobb said those figures are likely connected to a rise in evictions creating more inventory.
Zoom out: Nationwide, November saw the largest month-over-month drop in rent prices — 0.4% — since Zillow started tracking this data in 2015, Axios' Emily Peck reports.
The big picture: Rent prices have gotten crazy, jumping nationwide by an average of 36.9% in the past five years while hourly earnings only went up by 23%, per Zillow.
- The result: More people are "doubling up with roommates or family," instead of striking out on their own, Zillow reports.
- Rents are still higher than before the pandemic, at an average of $1,567 in Richmond, 8.2% higher than last year.