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Rental Affordability Declines in Most Metros, but Improved Housing Quality is a Factor

Rental housing affordability declined in 82% of U.S. metropolitan areas between 2014 and 2023, with renters experiencing the equivalent of an average $256 annual reduction in income after accounting for changes in housing quality. That’s according to a new report released Tuesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Research Institute for Housing America.

The report, Housing Demand and the Decline in Rental Housing Affordability, written by Gary Engelhardt, Ph.D. of Syracuse University, examines the role of housing demand in declining rental affordability. It introduces a new approach to measuring affordability that accounts for changes in housing quality, rental prices and household economic decisions.

“Traditional measures of rental affordability often fail to distinguish between rent increases driven by improvements in housing quality and those driven by rising housing costs,” said Engelhardt. “Our research finds that while rental housing affordability declined in most of the country, as much as half of the increase in rental expenditures over the past decade is associated with improvements in housing quality.”

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About Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 19-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 35-plus years in business-to-business journalism. In this capacity, he oversees daily operations while also reporting on both local/regional markets and national trends, covering individual transactions across all property types, as well as delving into broader subject matter. He produces 11-15 daily news stories per day and works with the Connect team and clients to develop longer-form content, ranging from Q&As to thought-leadership pieces. Prior to joining Connect, Paul was Managing Editor for both Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at American Lawyer Media, where he oversaw operations at both publications while also producing daily news and feature-length articles. His tenure in B2B publishing stretches back into the print era, and he has served as Editor in Chief on four national trade publications. Since 1999, Paul has volunteered as the newsletter editor of passenger rail advocacy groups (one national, one local).

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