Real Estate Index Shows Rental Markets Heating Up Nationwide
The January Zillow Real Estate Market Reports show that national home values decreased 0.5 percent to $146,200 from December to January. On an annual basis, this represents a 4.6 percent decline (see Figures 2 and 3).
New to this report is the Zillow Rent Index (ZRI), which is the rental counterpart to the Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), tracking the median rent of all homes in a given geography. This new index allows us to compare the rental performance between different areas, down to the ZIP code level (click here for details on the ZRI methodology). The ZRI data shows that, while national home values have fallen over the past year, rents have appreciated 3 percent over the same period (see Figure 1). Nearly 70 percent of the metropolitan areas covered by the ZRI showed year-over-year gains. By contrast, only 7.3 percent of the metros covered by the ZHVI experienced increases in home values.
