Rents Rising Faster Than Home Prices

Though listing prices have risen modestly in four of the past five months, rent hikes are still outperforming home price increases in the majority of rental markets. According to Trulia, 84 out of the 100 largest metros had price increases, seasonally adjusted. “We saw asking prices start to rise in February and predicted that other home price indexes would report sales price increases this summer for those homes – and they have,” said Jed Kolko, Trulia’s Chief Economist. “Since February, asking prices showed solid gains in four out of five months, including in June, so I expect to see the sales-price indexes show further increases in the months to come. However, the modest asking price gains trailed rent increases. Furthermore, rent increases accelerated between March and June.