Rents are rising in some of America’s most unlikely cities. In one Northeastern city, monthly costs are rising faster than in major metropolises like New York City or Boston.
Data from real estate marketer Zillow shows that rents in Hartford, Connecticut, are rising faster than in any other major market, with Cleveland and Louisville not far behind.
Rents in Hartford have increased by 7.8 percent over the past year, far more than in any other major market.
This comes as rents have become a major factor in inflation, with Federal Reserve officials calling them the “biggest stumbling block” to reining in the economy.
Rents are rising in the most unlikely cities in the Northeast. The city of Hartford is featured
Rents in Hartford, pictured, are rising faster than in any other major market
Cleveland, Ohio, located on the shores of Lake Erie, came in second with a 7.2 percent rent increase.
In the heart of the country, Louisville, Kentucky, remains a popular place to rent a home, with prices up 6.8 percent in the past year.
In the northeastern city of Providence, Rhode Island, halfway between New York and Boston, rents rose 6.3 percent year-over-year, while the Midwestern city of Milwaukee rounds out the top five with rent growth of 5.7 percent over 2023.
“More people are moving in the summer, which helps stimulate the rental market,” said Skylar Olsen, chief economist at Zillow.
“Renters are gravitating toward more affordable areas in the Northeast and Midwest. Commuting to New York City or Boston from places like Hartford or Providence may have been a deterrent before, but in this new era of remote and hybrid work, the savings seem worth it for many renters, even if it means an occasional painful commute.”
The Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, Connecticut
Cleveland, Ohio, located on the shores of Lake Erie, came in second with a 7.2 percent rent increase
In the heart of the country, Louisville, Kentucky remains a popular place to rent a home, with prices up 6.8 percent over the past year
The most expensive cities in the country are on both coasts. New York City is the most expensive with a median rent of $3,470 and the median rent in Manhattan is $4,400.
The Silicon Valley city of San Jose, California comes in second with an average rent of $3,430, followed by Boston at $3,130.
California’s coastal cities of San Francisco ($3,119) and San Diego ($3,083) rank as the fourth and fifth most expensive cities to rent a home in the country.
It is likely that Los Angeles will break the $3,000 per month barrier if current rent growth continues.
According to ZORI, the average rent nationwide is $2,054. That’s up 3.5% from last year, the fastest annual growth since July of last year.
The most expensive cities in the country are on both coasts, with New York City being the most expensive city, with an average rent of $3,470 and the median rent in Manhattan being $4,400.
The Silicon Valley city of San Jose, California, is the second most expensive city in the country to rent in with an average rent of $3,430. Boston came in third with $3,130
Earlier this year, Austan Goolsbee, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, warned that rents and rising mortgage rates had become major factors driving inflation.
“Housing is the biggest stumbling block,” Goolsbee said, as quoted by Bloomberg.
‘We thought we broadly understood the mechanical, short-term model for the extent to which housing inflation should decline.
“And it hasn’t come down as quickly as we thought at this point.”
US inflation fell for the third straight month in June, a sign that the worst price rise in four decades is slowly easing and that the Federal Reserve may soon start cutting rates.
In a better-than-expected report, consumer prices fell 0.1 percent from May to June after remaining flat the previous month, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
It was the first monthly decline in headline inflation since May 2020, when the economy was paralyzed by the pandemic.
Compared to a year earlier, prices were 3 percent higher in June, down from 3.3 percent year-on-year in May.