Rents Now Rising Even Faster Than Home Prices

U.S. housing prices are up for the first time in a while, prompting a number of commentaries about how home prices may have finally begun to bounce off the bottom. As it turns out, though, rents are increasing faster.

That's according to the just released Housing and Rental Price Monitors from Trulia, developed by their chief economist and occasional Cities contributor Jed Kolko. He's calculated that in 22 of the 25 largest U.S. rental markets, rents are outpacing home prices.

Housing prices are rising the most, not surprisingly, in markets that took the biggest hits. Phoenix and Miami have seen big increases, as have Cape Coral and West Palm Beach. Housing prices have also come back up in Detroit and nearby Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, as well as Pittsburgh. Denver and Orlando also number among the top ten, as well as San Jose – the Silicon Valley area – where housing prices did not dip that much but continue to be under pressure from the tech boom.

On the other hand, rents are rising the most in metros where housing is expensive, especially in California and the Pacific Northwest. San Francisco leads the way in rent increases, making a very expensive city even more expensive, followed by nearby Oakland, then Denver, Miami (where housing prices have surged recently), and Boston. Seattle, Portland, Philadelphia, Houston, and New York round out the top ten metros where rents have increase the most.