Rental Market Tracker: Rents Rise 14% in December—Biggest Jump in Over Two Years

Published on January 21st, 2022 by Lily Katz and Tim Ellis

Updated on October 3rd, 2024

The biggest increase was in Austin, where rents surged 40% from a year earlier.

Average monthly listed rents in the U.S. increased 14.1% year over year to $1,877 in December, the largest annual jump since at least February 2019—the earliest month in Redfin’s rental data. Meanwhile, the national monthly mortgage payment for homebuyers climbed 21.6% year over year, also the biggest increase in Redfin’s records. “The growth in mortgage payments has been driven by both climbing prices and climbing mortgage rates,” said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. “And those rising mortgage costs push more potential homebuyers into renting instead, which pushes up demand and prices for rentals. Mortgage rate increases are accelerating, which will cause both mortgage payments and rent to grow throughout 2022.”

Rental Market Summary	December 2021	Month-Over-Month	Year-Over-Year
Average Monthly Rent	$1,877	0.3%	14.1%
Median Monthly Mortgage Payment for Homebuyers w/ 5% down payment	$1,553	0.3%	21.6%

Year–over-year rent-price increases outpaced year-over-year mortgage payment increases for new homebuyers in just 16 of the 50 largest U.S. metro areas in December.

Rents are Up Over 30% In Many Major Metro Areas

The 10 metro areas with the biggest increases in rent prices—up 29% year over year or more—were almost exclusively on the East Coast. The only exceptions were Austin, TX and Portland, OR.

Top 10 Metro Areas With Fastest-Rising Rents Year Over Year

Only Kansas City saw rent decline year over year

Kansas City, MO (-0.8%)

Just one metro area saw rents fall in December from the same month a year earlier. Rents declined 0.8% in Kansas City, MO.

Year-Over-Year Change in Rents and Median Monthly Mortgage Payments for Homebuyers, December 2021

Region	Average Rent	Year-Over-Year Change in Average Rent	Monthly Mortgage (5% down)	Year-Over-Year Change in Monthly Mortgage (5% down)	Difference Between Year-Over-Year Change in 5% Down Mortgage Payment & Rent
Anaheim, CA	$3,394	9.6%	$3,813	24.0%	14 pts
Atlanta, GA	$2,016	12.1%	$1,420	29.6%	18 pts
Austin, TX	$2,290	39.9%	$1,956	37.5%	-2 pts
Baltimore, MD	$2,018	10.7%	$1,318	11.0%	0 pts
Boston, MA	$3,637	22.3%	$2,511	18.8%	-3 pts
Charlotte, NC	$1,730	11.5%	$1,448	27.1%	16 pts
Chicago, IL	$2,351	9.0%	$1,168	14.3%	5 pts
Cincinnati, OH	$1,473	24.2%	$957	15.1%	-9 pts
Cleveland, OH	$1,378	11.6%	$730	9.8%	-2 pts
Columbus, OH	$1,458	7.5%	$1,095	16.3%	9 pts
Dallas, TX	$2,081	28.5%	$1,562	27.0%	-1 pts
Denver, CO	$2,661	19.0%	$2,191	26.1%	7 pts
Detroit, MI	$1,552	11.4%	$710	19.1%	8 pts
Fort Lauderdale, FL	$3,020	34.0%	$1,481	23.5%	-11 pts
Fort Worth, TX	$2,081	28.5%	$1,367	30.8%	2 pts
Houston, TX	$1,807	10.4%	$1,294	23.8%	13 pts
Indianapolis, IN	$1,280	9.1%	$1,014	19.9%	11 pts
Jacksonville, FL	$1,625	31.5%	$1,298	25.3%	-6 pts
Kansas City, MO	$1,391	-0.8%	$1,116	18.5%	19 pts
Las Vegas, NV	$1,820	25.2%	$1,620	31.7%	7 pts
Los Angeles, CA	$3,394	9.6%	$3,387	20.7%	11 pts
Miami, FL	$3,020	34.0%	$1,785	29.0%	-5 pts
Milwaukee, WI	$1,731	9.7%	$1,005	14.5%	5 pts
Minneapolis, MN	$1,860	9.0%	$1,359	14.1%	5 pts
Montgomery County, PA	$2,233	13.2%	$1,562	16.1%	3 pts
Nashville, TN	$1,872	13.9%	$1,663	31.1%	17 pts
Nassau County, NY	$3,718	34.5%	$2,333	13.4%	-21 pts
New Brunswick, NJ	$3,718	34.5%	$1,724	16.5%	-18 pts
New York, NY	$3,718	34.5%	$2,596	14.5%	-20 pts
Newark, NJ	$3,718	34.5%	$1,866	14.2%	-20 pts
Oakland, CA	$3,520	15.0%	$3,554	14.2%	-1 pts
Orlando, FL	$2,050	28.8%	$1,444	29.6%	1 pts
Philadelphia, PA	$2,233	13.2%	$1,051	13.9%	1 pts
Phoenix, AZ	$2,107	26.0%	$1,766	35.1%	9 pts
Pittsburgh, PA	$1,707	8.9%	$820	11.0%	2 pts
Portland, OR	$2,392	29.4%	$2,069	19.6%	-10 pts
Providence, RI	$2,176	13.1%	$1,542	20.5%	7 pts
Riverside, CA	$2,666	18.5%	$2,150	24.9%	6 pts
Sacramento, CA	$2,582	20.7%	$2,224	21.8%	1 pts
San Antonio, TX	$1,386	11.5%	$1,252	25.3%	14 pts
San Diego, CA	$3,077	10.8%	$3,142	23.9%	13 pts
San Francisco, CA	$3,520	15.0%	$6,038	16.4%	1 pts
San Jose, CA	$3,300	6.7%	$5,550	21.3%	15 pts
Seattle, WA	$2,724	20.9%	$2,949	23.4%	3 pts
St. Louis, MO	$1,448	1.3%	$901	13.8%	13 pts
Tampa, FL	$2,076	28.1%	$1,371	31.2%	3 pts
Virginia Beach, VA	$1,681	20.4%	$1,156	12.1%	-8 pts
Warren, MI	$1,552	11.4%	$1,043	13.0%	2 pts
Washington, D.C.	$2,538	12.0%	$1,978	14.4%	2 pts
West Palm Beach, FL	$3,020	34.0%	$1,582	20.4%	-14 pts
National	$1,877	14.1%	$1,553	21.6%	7 pts

Methodology

Redfin’s rent-versus-own analysis uses data from more than 20,000 apartment buildings across the US. The report combines rental data on all sizes of apartments for rent with home sales data on all residential home sales (single-family, townhouse and condos) from public records and the multiple listing service (MLS). When this report refers to the median mortgage payment for new homebuyers, it is based on a 5% down payment, the median sale price during the month and the average mortgage interest rate for the month. The report uses a 5% down payment in order to be comparable to what an average renter may be able to reasonably achieve in savings. Redfin analyzed home sales data from the MLS, and public records and rent prices from RentPath, across the 50 largest metro areas in the US. Monthly rental prices in this report are not directly comparable to monthly homebuyer mortgage payments, since the mix of homes available to rent and the mix of homes being purchased differ in location, size and quality of home within each metro area. For example, most of the homes being purchased may be in the less expensive suburbs of the metropolitan area, while the apartments being rented may be closer to the more expensive city core. It is also important to note that the prices in this report reflect the current costs of new leases and new mortgages during each time period. In other words, the amount shown as the average rent is not the average of what all renters are paying, but the average cost of apartments that were available for new renters during the report month. Likewise, the median monthly mortgage payment shown is only for homes that sold during the report month, not for all homeowners.

Lily Katz

As a data journalist, Lily is passionate about helping readers understand complex facets of the housing market. She is particularly interested in the issues of climate change, race and gender equality and housing affordability. Prior to working at Redfin, Lily spent four years as a reporter at Bloomberg News in New York City.

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Tim Ellis

Tim Ellis has been analyzing the real estate market since 2005, and worked at Redfin as a housing market analyst from 2010 through 2013 and again starting in 2018. In his free time, he runs the independently-operated Seattle-area real estate website Seattle Bubble, and produces the “Dispatches from the Multiverse” improvised comedy sci-fi podcast.

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