Phoenix renters spent $7.5B on housing this year
Dec 21, 2018, 4:30 AM | Updated: 8:57 am
PHOENIX — Phoenix residents spent $7.5 billion on rent this year, a $603 million increase from last year, according to a real estate website.
HotPads said the number of households renting homes in Phoenix this year increased by 18,000 from 2017 to reach a total of 625,000.
The median rent in metro Phoenix, the website said, is $1,495 per month, a 6.2 percent increase from last year.
Nationwide, renters spent $12.6 billion more on rent than last year, totaling $504 billion for 2018.
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The U.S. median rent rose 3 percent this year to $1,475, still far cheaper than San Jose’s fourth-quarter median rent of more than $3,700.
The New York City metro area saw the most money spent on rent at $55.6 billion, but rent growth is slowing there and only increased by 1 percent this year.
“After several years of a booming economy, more millennials became financially able to become homeowners in 2018,” HotPads economist Joshua Clark said in a press release.
“However, rent affordability continues to be a challenge, as those who still rent are paying even higher prices now than they were a year ago.”
