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95 95 INVESTMENT GOVERNMENT PROPERTY PRESERVATION Journal Follow Us At: @DSNewsDaily RENTAL RELIEF: RENTS GROW AT SLOWEST PACE IN 18 MONTHS National rent growth slowed to 4.7% annually in October—its slowest pace in 18 months—with average rents hitting $1,734, ac- cording to Realtor.com's October Rental Report. Despite the reprieve for rentals, it may be short-lived, but Realtor.com's 2022 Fall Land- lord and Renter Survey found tenants are strug- gling with affordability and many are planning rent increases over the next year. "With soaring inflation and recession fears a huge concern for many consumers, finding affordable housing remains a priority for families. Our data indicates that we are finally starting to see a bit of relief from the double-digit pace of rent growth that we experienced during the height of the pandem- ic," said Danielle Hale, Chief Economist at Realtor.com. "While it's still a bit early to say that we're officially on a downward trajectory for rent prices, the data shows a promising return toward normal seasonal slowdowns and suggests that the astronomical price gains of the past several years may be behind us." According to the report, the median rent in the top 50 U.S. metros in October was $1,734, which is down $25 month over month and $47 from its July peak. October is the third consecutive month of single-digit growth and the ninth consecutive month of slowing. However, the pace of growth was still nearly 1.5 times faster than it was in March 2020 before the pandemic hit. While lower rents are a welcome sight, affordability is still a concern. e report states that 69.5% of those surveyed who experienced an increase are considering moving for more affordable rent, which is up from 66.2% in July. "While it's encouraging to see smaller price increases, it's important to understand that many renters have already absorbed large increases in their monthly rental costs over the past several years, which is impacting their ability to save," said Ryan Coon, VP of Rentals at Realtor.com. "High inflation and the cost of upkeep and repairs are hitting landlords, who have had to raise rents to cover their higher cost of owning the properties and making it unlikely that they'll be open to negotiating with new tenants." Realtor.com reported just 32.3% of renters are considering purchasing a home in the next year—down from 34.6% in July. e most com- mon reason is not having enough savings for a down payment (44.4%) and fear they would not qualify for a mortgage (19.6%). regions of the U.S. are hit most by flood-related disasters. As a result, the cumulative growth rate gap between the low-risk and high-risk homes in these counties is wider than counties from other parts of the country over time, reflecting homebuyers' stronger demands for safer homes in endangered areas. For example, during the last flood-related disaster season, the growth rate gap between high-risk and low-risk homes was 2.8 percentage points in the Eastern Coastal counties, whereas the gap was 0.9 percentage points in other counties. Over the past decade, Florida (24 times), North Carolina (16 times), and South Carolina (13 times) are the top three states along the Eastern Coast having the highest number of flood-related federally declared disasters. ey are also among the states suffering the highest damage costs. According to the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), the U.S. has sustained 338 weather and climate disasters since 1980, where overall damages/ costs reached or exceeded $1 billion (including CPI adjustment to 2022). e total cost of these 338 events exceeds $2.295 trillion. Florida alone had more than $51 billion in damage caused by flood-related disasters during the past 10 years, North Carolina sustained more than $22 billion, and South Carolina suffered a total loss of more than $4 billion. As a result, the growing gaps between low-risk and high-risk homes in counties within these states are wider than average. During the last flood-related disaster season, the gap between low-risk and high-risk homes was 3.6 percentage points in Florida, 3.2 percentage points in North Carolina, and 5.6 percentage points in South Carolina (vs. 1.7 percentage points in all counties). For the study, Realtor.com analyzed resi- dential sales in 41 states from Q1 2016 through Q2 2022. Luxury homes, defined as those with a sale price in the top 10% of a county in that quarter, were excluded from this analysis, to control for the sometimes very different real estate market trends for these types of homes. Properties were then categorized according to their Flood Factor Rating, and the scores were consolidated into low-risk and high-risk catego- ries. Counties with too few sales within a given category and a given quarter were also excluded from the analysis, with 271 counties remaining.