PHOENIX — Renters may finally see some relief. Although, make no mistake, it is still not great for renters, but things are looking better.
ABC15’s last analysis on rent showed monthly rentals in Phoenix have nearly doubled in the past decade.
Compared to the rest of the country, rents are still on the low end. COVID-19 supercharged increases, but multiple tracking companies now agree year-over-year prices have either flatlined or are falling.
At the national level, Realtor.com data shows rent in the Phoenix metro is down 5.7% year over year. It's the third-highest drop of major metro areas behind Las Vegas and Riverside, California.
Southeastern metros are also showing year-over-year declines, but they are not as deep as what is happening in the West.
Not all the data agree.
Zillow data shows year-over-year rent increases in Phoenix have slowed to a crawl but are not yet in the negative. Their rental index has Phoenix rent increasing by 0.23% compared to the same time last year.
Even though data from different companies do not agree on the actual number the Valley has landed on, they do agree on the trend lines.
Apartmentlist.com, another company that tracks the rental market, follows the same general pattern as Zillow’s data since the pandemic but with a more intense rise and fall.
ABC15 looked at two sources for rent around the Valley’s cities —rent.com and apartmentlist.com — for the range of rents on a two-bedroom apartment. The most expensive city is Scottsdale, but Gilbert has the widest range of year-over-year change.
Rents in that East Valley suburb have either stagnated or are on a six-percent decline from last year.
Year-over-year drops are more pronounced in the least expensive rental markets. Drops are anywhere from no annual change in Phoenix to a drop of 13% in Glendale.
This means even with different estimates from different companies, all of the data is consistent in showing the skyrocketing post-pandemic rental increases in the Valley are in the rearview mirror for now.
