U.S. Rents Match Pre-Pandemic Projections—Except in Big, Expensive Cities

Rents are resetting to pre-pandemic projections around the United States. Cities like San Francisco and New York are lagging behind, however.

1 minute read

July 5, 2021, 7:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


San Francisco

Lerner Vadim / Shutterstock

Marie Patino shares news of new research published by real estate aggregator Apartment List that measures the difference between pre-pandemic projected rents and current rents. One key takeaway: rents in San Francisco have the largest distinction between pre-pandemic projections and current realities—a difference of 16.1 percent.

The difference in San Francisco has still shrunk compared to the 35 percent decline in rent prices in December, when rents had declined by 35 percent year over year, matching a trend of climbing rental prices around the country. However, according to the data, prices are recovering to pre-pandemic projections slowest in large cities, like New York; Washington, D.C.; Boston; and Seattle. "Nationwide though, the trend looks different: The gap between actual and projected prices closed for the first time in May," explains Patino.

Infographics and more insight can be found in the source article.

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