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January 2024 » thefivestar.com 77 January 2024 J O U R N A L On a longer-term basis, rents remain elevated. Since November 2019, months before the pandemic, prices have risen by more than 22%, adding $355 to monthly rent bills. National Rent Price Trends » Price growth at the national level con- tinues to be held down by below-nor- mal demand, increased inventory, and a return to seasonal price trends that typically place downward pressure on rents through the fall and winter. » November's greater than 2% annual decline marks the second month in a row that prices dropped on a yearly basis after peaking last August. Asking rents have declined year over year in three of the last four months and a total of four times in 2023. » Price growth over this year stands at 1.29%, rising from $1,942 in January to the current price of $1,967. » Monthly price changes registered negative for the third month in a row. The -0.57% decline from October to November was smaller than both the 2% decline from August to September and the -1.64% decline from Septem- ber to October but added to evidence that the national market has returned to seasonal trends. Before recent declines, prices had been generally rising since February, gaining nearly 6% until prices peaked in August. Regionally, prices continued to climb in the Midwest. Yearly growth there increased from 4.08% in October to 4.57% in November. Asking rents, however, remain well below those in other regions. At $1,434 in the Midwest, it is still nearly $1,000 cheaper than median rents in the Northeast and West and nearly $200 less than rents in the South. All other regions saw year-over- year declines in November. This was a reversal for the Northeast, which grew by more than 3% on a yearly basis in Octo- ber. The region is now down 0.02% year over year. Declines in the South were relatively minimal at -0.37% but nearly doubled from the month prior, when yearly declines were just under -0.20%. Asking rents in the West continue to de- cline, which in recent months has been driven by locales in the Mountain West. The region's asking rents dropped an- other -1.76% in November after October's -1.52% decline. State Rent Price Trends State-level markets maintained a nearly 60/40 split between yearly price gains and declines. In November, 57.14% of state markets were up year over year com- pared to 40.48% of markets that showed yearly losses. On a monthly basis, the split was more even with 52.38% of markets declining to 47.62% of markets gaining over asking rents at this time last year. States experiencing the largest year-over-year increases were led again by Mississippi. After posting an 18.3% year-over-year increase in October, yearly growth in the Magnolia State fell just short of 14% in November, despite a -1.73% decline month over month. Still, Mississippi remains relatively affordable. At $1,187, asking rents there are lower than any other state among the larg- est gainers except for North Dakota, where rents rose by nearly 11% year over year to $1,101. South Carolina was the only other Southern state among the largest gainers, with a 7.57% yearly increase. Asking rents, there are now $1,546. Reflecting regional trends, the Midwest once again dominated the list of states with the highest yearly increases, with seven of the top 10 largest gainers coming from the region. North Dakota was joined by Michigan, which had the second largest yearly gain at 13.89%, Kansas, with growth north of 11%, and Wisconsin, which grew by 9%. The list of largest gainers was round- ed out by Minnesota, Missouri, and Indiana, all of which grew between 6.50 and 7.50% year over year. New Hampshire was the only North- eastern locale on the list. The Granite State grew by more than 13% year over year and gained 5.75% from October to November to a median asking rent of $2,104. The West (Particularly the Mountain West) Led Yearly Declines in November Hot metros like Boise, Idaho, that saw significant increases in inbound migra- tion and rent prices over the pandemic have been cooling for months. Those declines have translated to a -7.49% statewide decrease in asking rents across Idaho, which saw the largest year-over- year declines. Four more Mountain West states also saw relatively large yearly losses, including Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada. In the Pacific Northwest, both Wash- ington and Oregon saw yearly declines at -7.28% and -6.54%, respectively. Declines in Washington were led by eastern met- ros like Spokane, which has declined by nearly 14.5%, or $282, since asking rents reached their highest level on record in June 2022. In contrast, declines in Oregon were driven by western metros like Portland, which saw the largest yearly decline in November. Florida, Oklahoma, and Texas were also among the largest losers. All three declined between 3% and 5% year over year. Price slides in Oklahoma ensured its position as the cheapest metro in this study, coming in at $1,001. Metro Rent Price Trends Positive changes at the metro level were led by the Providence, Rhode Island metro. Asking rents there increased by 22.32% on a yearly basis, and just over one- half of 1% month over month. Providence is now the ninth most expensive metro in this study at $2,846, placing it between Seattle and Riverside, California. The New York City metro was the only other Northeastern city among the largest gainers. Perennially the most ex- pensive metro in the nation, asking rents across the metro rose 5.19% on a yearly basis while declining nearly 3% month over month to $4,218. Helping propel Midwestern gains in November was the Columbus, Ohio, metro. With an 11.24% increase year over year, Columbus saw the second-highest yearly gains among metros in this study. Prices there are now $1,732. Joining Columbus were Kansas City—the third highest yearly gainer at 9.71%—along with the Indianapolis and Cincinnati metros, which each grew by more than 5% year over year. In the West, Phoenix, San Jose, and Los Angeles metros all showed large