Lower-cost metros continue to outperform pricey gateway markets, Yardi Matrix reports

Since the beginning of the pandemic, rents have only varied by a few dollars each month – contrary to what many experts initially feared. However, there are significant rent variations at the metro level, and given a lack of government stimulus and continuing layoffs, the fall and winter months will be telling, says the latest Yardi Matrix® National Multifamily Report.

“With the extreme uncertainty surrounding the country today, the multifamily industry has held up better so far than many predicted. Since the beginning of the pandemic, overall rents have only been up or down by a few dollars each month. Many initially feared that the decline would be much steeper than the $8 overall national rent decline we have seen since February,” states the report.

According to the National Multifamily Housing Council’s Rent Payment Tracker, 92.2% of apartment households made a full or partial rent payment by September 27—a 1.5 percentage point decline from September 2019 and a 0.1 percentage point increase from August 2020.

Rents decreased 0.3% in September on a year-over-year basis, continuing a trend since the onset of the pandemic: Metros with the highest rents have suffered the most, while less expensive metros have fared better than expected. San Jose (-6.6%) and San Francisco (-5.8%) led with the sharpest year-over-year declines yet again. Austin (-2.9%) moved up to tie with Boston (-2.9%) for third place in largest YoY declines.

Dive deeper into the full September National Multifamily Report.