Zumper National Rent Report: October 2020

Expensive Markets Slide Further

Expensive cities continued to decrease in rental prices last month, with yearly drops largely led by the nation’s seven most expensive cities: San Francisco; New York; Boston; San Jose; Oakland; Los Angeles; and Washington D.C. The growth rate in median 1-bed prices averaged -12.7% in these seven cities compared to -10.4% last month. Decreases in these cities and other expensive markets contributed to the continued trend of historically expensive cities getting closer in price to historically cheaper cities. This “gap-closing” effect slowed slightly last month, however, as cheaper cities experienced muted growth compared to the month prior- the cheapest 10 cities on this list averaged 2.2% in median price growth last month compared to 4.8% the month prior.

San Francisco Leads the Fall

The median 1-bed price in San Francisco last month was $2830, a 20.3% decrease from a year ago. Not only is this drop among the largest yearly decreases Zumper has ever recorded in our history of tracking rental prices, but it was also the first time the median 1-bed price in San Francisco was priced below $3000. These combined trends show just how drastically the market has changed in the nation’s most expensive city to rent.

New York City May Become The Priciest Rental Market if Trends Continue

New York City also continued to experience historic price drops, with the median 1-bed price down 12.5% from last year, but it’s trend diverged slightly from San Francisco’s rent price free-fall. While there is evidence of new renters taking advantage of historic price drops and moving to both San Francisco and New York, New York’s migration inflows have returned to pre-March levels, while San Francisco’s have not. Both cities continued to experience large migration outflows, but the differences in the two city’s migration inflows may explain their diverging price trends and could lead to rental prices in New York stabilizing faster than in San Francisco. Were this to happen and these trends continue, it is likely that New York will overtake San Francisco as the most expensive city in the country by 1-bed median price.

Nationally

Overall, the national 1-bedroom median rent decreased 0.1% last month to $1231, while the 2-bedroom median decreased 0.1% to $1489. In year-to-date terms, the 1-bedroom median increased 0.6% and 2-bedroom median increased 0.7%.

Top 5 Rental Markets

1. San Francisco, CA 1-bedroom median price dropped 7% from the month prior to $2830. The 2-bedroom median dropped 7% to $3800. Both the 1-bedroom and 2-bedroom medians were down slightly over 20% from last year.

2. New York, NY 1-bedroom median price dropped 4% from the month prior to $2600, and 2-bedroom median decreased 2% to $2990. The 1-bedroom median and 2-bedroom median were down 12.5% and 11.3% from last year, respectively.

3. Boston, Massachusetts 1-bedroom median and 2-bedroom median rent remained flat at $2300 and $2800, respectively. The 1-bedroom median and 2-bedroom median dropped 8% and 3% from last year, respectively.

4. San Jose, CA 1-bedroom median remained flat at $2230 from the month prior and the 2-bedroom median decreased 1% to $2770. 1-bedroom median and 2-bedroom median rent decreased 9% and 6% from last year, respectively.

5. Oakland, CA was the 5th priciest rental market with the 1-bedroom median decreasing 3% from the prior month to $2130, and the 2-bedroom median decreased 4% from the prior month to $2700.

Notable Changes this Past Month

Upward

1. Chesapeake, VA saw 1-bedroom median rent increase the most from the month prior, up 5.4% to $1180 and ranking as the 38th most expensive rental market.

2. Rochester, NYhad the second highest monthly growth rate in 1-bedroom median rent at 5.3%. The 2-bedroom median rent increased 4.3% from the month prior. Rochester is now ranked as the 59th most expensive rental market.

3. Newark, NJ and Norfolk, VA both saw median 1-bedroom rent climb 5.2% from the prior month, and ranked as the 21st and 58th most expensive rental markets, respectively.

4. Cleveland, OH saw an increase of 5.1% to its 1-bedroom median rent from the prior month. Median 1-bedroom rent was $1030 last month.

5. Lincoln, NE had an increase of 4.9% in median 1-bedroom rent to $850 and was the 75th most expensive rental market.

Downward

1. San Francisco, Californie had the largest decrease in 1-bedroom median rent from the prior month at -6.9%. Median 1-bedroom rent was $2830, but San Francisco still ranked as the most expensive rental market.

2. Des Moines, IAsaw the second highest monthly decrease in 1-bedroom median rent at -5.6%. Des Moines ranked as the 75th most expensive rental market with the 1-bedroom median rent at $850.

3. Anchorage, AK had a monthly decrease of 5.3% in 1-bedroom median rent. Anchorage ranked as the 68th most expensive rental market with median 1-bedroom rent at $900.

4. Winston, Salem, NC, the 84th most expensive market, had the 4th largest monthly decrease at -4.8% in 1-bedroom median rent to $800.

5. Bakersfield, CA had the 5th largest decrease in 1-bedroom median rent at -4.7% from the prior month to $810.

Annual 1-bedroom Median Price Growth Map

Full Data

About

The Zumper National Rent Report analyzes rental data from over 1 million active listings across the United States. Data is aggregated on a monthly basis to calculate median asking rents for the top 100 metro areas by population, providing a comprehensive view of the current state of the market. The report is based on all data available in the month prior to publication.

If you’re interested in a more in-depth explanation of how and why we calculate our rent data, view our methodology post.

To keep up to date with rent changes across the country, like or follow Zumper on Facebook, Gazouillement, and Instagram. In the market for a new place? Search apartments for rent on Zumper.