Multifamily rents continued to grow in May, though that growth was more on the steady rather than the spectacular side, according to the latest research from Yardi Matrix.

In its most recent National Multifamily Report, Yardi Matrix said that the average U.S. multifamily advertised rent jumped $6 in May when compared to April. That brought the average monthly rent to $1,761 in May.

On a year-over-year basis, average monthly rents barely budged. Yardi Matrix reported that May’s average monthly rent was just 1% higher than it was a year ago.

Gateway and secondary metropolitan areas in the Midwest and Northeast recorded the highest rent growths, with New York City seeing the highest growth as its monthly rents jumped 5.7% this May when compared to the same month a year ago.

In the Midwest, Kansas City, Missouri, saw its monthly rents increase this May by 4% when compared to a year ago. Other Midwest cities seeing solid year-over-year multifamily rent growth were Columbus, Ohio, with a jump of 3.3%; Detroit, 3.1%; and Chicago, 3.1%.

Many metropolitan areas with a high supply of multifamily apartments saw negative rent growth. Austin, Texas, led the way, with the average monthly apartment rent here dropping by 5.2% in May when compared to the same month a year ago. Also in Texas, Dallas saw its average monthly apartment rent drop by 1.5% this May on a year-over-year basis.

The national occupancy rate in April stood at 94.4%, 0.3% year-over-year. This is the lowest this rate has been in more than a decade, according to Yardi Matrix.

Occupancy rates have slipped below 93% in Austin, where this figure stood at 92.5% in April, and Dallas and Houston, both of which saw their multifamily occupancy rates fall to 92.6%.Tags