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January 2024 » thefivestar.com 75 January 2024 J O U R N A L U.S. HOME PRICE GROWTH HAMPERED BY 'BELOW NORMAL' DEMAND A new study from Rent. revealed yearly declines in asking rents accelerated in November, dropping more than 2% from this time last year. This was the second month in a row, and the third time in the last four months, that prices dropped annually. November's -2.09% decline was signifi- cantly larger than the most recent price drops. Yearly declines in October were just below one-third of 1%, while declines in July were minimal at just -0.06%. November was also the first time in more than three and half years that year- over-year prices dipped by more than a single percent. In February 2020, prices dropped by more than 2%. A month later, as the pandemic took hold across the country, prices declined again in March 2020, this time by -1.09%. That cooling trend was short-lived, and following those late-winter declines, national pric- es rose yearly for 37 consecutive months. It wasn't until May 2023 that yearly prices shrank again. Over that time, asking rents grew by more than 20%, from $1,614 in March 2020 to $1,967 in May 2023. The current national median price is also $1,967. Prices peaked in August 2022 at $2,054. Monthly, prices declined for a third consecutive month, but declines from October to November slowed. Current asking rents decreased -0.57% month over month compared to a -1.64% decline from September to October and a more than 2% drop from August to Septem- ber. Rents have now declined in six of 11 months in 2023. Despite the slowdown, another monthly drop is further evidence that rent prices are returning to cyclical patterns that eluded the market during the pan- demic. September 2022 was a mile marker in rent prices, ending a run of double-digit yearly gains that began in October 2021. Over that time, rents rose by over 11.5%, climbing from $1,839 to $2,054 in August 2022. Prices in September were still up 8.83% but began a decline—led by decreased demand—which lasted until rents bottomed out at $1,937 in February 2023. Price levels rose steadily from Feb- ruary before peaking in August, gaining nearly 6% and coming within $2 of the historical high. Declines since August have brought that growth down to just over 1.50% and decreased prices from August's peak by $85.