Why Rent Prices in 2026 Are CRUSHING Millions of Americans

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]Welcome back to Edwards Economics. My name's Kayn and your rent might not have gone up this year, but for millions of people, that sentence actually isn't true. Rent growth across the country this year has nearly flatlined. And in a lot of cities, it's even falling, which means the affordability crisis for our housing is over, right? Time to relax.

[00:00:20]Everything's fine. Everybody's going to get your own house with a white picket fence. It's going to be great. I went through the actual numbers and unfortunately I found the opposite of relief. So why is the calmst the rental market has looked in years actually the most dangerous moment to sign a lease?

[00:00:37]Let's find out.

[00:00:39]>> I cannot figure it out and I am so frustrated.

[00:00:45]Why is it that I have to work 40 hours a week just so I can have a place to live? 40 hours a week makes me $2,000 a month and my rent is $1,660.

[00:01:03]So I work 40 hours a week so I can have a two-bedroom apartment and an extra $300 a month. like doesn't cover my phone, internet, food, you know. So, not only do I >> She must have somebody she's living with cuz that would change the economics of this a lot because if you're just one person, you don't need two bedrooms. But if you're one person and you're paying $2,000 or or half that so that you can rent one side, the other person wants the other bedroom. Okay. Okay. Yeah, you got a little bit extra spending money. Still not much. 40 hours a week to make $2,000 is nothing. Nothing. I mean, poverty line >> and not have any extra money, but just working makes me so exhausted that I don't have time either.

[00:02:00]Like I get off work at 5:30.

[00:02:04]>> Already down.

[00:02:04]>> Come home. I'm just so tired.

[00:02:09]I'm so tired that like anything that I need to do outside of work, I then just push off to like the weekends and I'm like, I'm just too tired to do this after work. I'll wait until Saturday. So then I end up with so much to do on the weekend that ends up having to be split into two days. So I have to do stuff on both Saturday and Sunday.

[00:02:30]So then I don't get a day off. I don't get a day to relax. I don't get to decompress.

[00:02:37]So, it is really like working seven days a week constantly and I don't want to do that anymore, right? Like, I don't care how poor and miserable I would have to be. But I literally can't have a place to live without this, you know? Like, I don't know what to do. I'm not I'm not made for this. I don't have the money, time, or energy to enjoy my life outside of work. And I don't know what to do about it anymore. You know, I'm so tired.

[00:03:22]>> I just got home and this note was taped to my door and I'm kind of scared to open it because it says rent notice, which probably means my rent is about to increase. And not to sound dramatic, but the inside of this note is about to determine the fate of my future. Because if they keep my rent the same, I would highly consider staying in West Palm Beach for another year. But if they raise it by over $100, I'm 100% moving to either Miami or New York.

[00:03:41]>> West Palm Beach.

[00:03:43]What's your guess? Get your guesses in.

[00:03:45]Now, >> current rent is $4,200 a month. So, if they raise it to more than 4,300 a month, I'm 100% out of here. But let's see. Congratulations on your upcoming anniversary with us and thank you for being a valued resident in our community. As a valued resident, we'd like to show our appreciation by offering you an early renewal discount.

[00:04:04]If I'm so valued, why the would you raise my rent? My current rent's $41.90.

[00:04:08]If I renew with a early special, they are raising it to $4,62.

[00:04:14]And if I don't sign within the month, they're raising it to $4,732 a month. Not the threat, not the you're going to be unhoused if you don't get back to us. Guys, this is like extortion. Like, what are we what are we doing here? The threat I don't even like the way this is all set up. You agree yes to a set term.

[00:04:39]You're going to pay this amount. You're going to be able to live here. But if anybody who's rented before, y'all know that feeling getting this letter, opening it up, and just seeing like, wow, how can you do this? Like, I paid you on time all year, and this is what you're going to do to me. I mean, paying 40 41.90 is already insane. So, it's kind of hard for me to believe if you're already paying that much that an extra $500, $400 is really going to break the bank for you. I mean, it is an extra $5,000 a year, but when you're paying $5,000 a month in rent anyway, it's like this is nothing to you. But like, what?

[00:05:20]That's where you're going to draw the line? Oh, don't. I'm already paying $5,000 a month, but if you raise it another $400, I'm out of here. This is crazy, >> bro. That is crazy. I was thinking maybe $200 to $300. That that would typically be in line with inflation, right? 3 to 4%. $4,600 from 42 is a 10% increase.

[00:05:41]Okay, since my landlord wants to play games, we're going to play a little game called move out.

[00:05:44]>> All right, guys. I'm literally going to start I'm I'm going to start crying.

[00:05:48]Surprised I haven't started balling my eyes out yet. My rent went up. I bet it went up $225.

[00:05:56]I can't do that. That's crazy. I live in Boston. I live in a studio. I have chosen to live on my own. I'm very aware of the fact that I could have come here and gotten a random roommate and saved more of my money. Knew coming here that I would have to sacrifice some of my financial goals, but I am such a happier person living here in Boston than I was back home in Connecticut. I've found my people, my I've have a beautiful girlfriend now that I'm here and like I just love being in Boston and I have chosen to live by myself all this time and I could afford it when I came here.

[00:06:31]My rent started at $1,725, I think, for a studio. I don't know if I mentioned that. This is a studio apartment with $200 parking space. It's not really a space. It's just a spot where I can park my car and it is very convenient. Then it went up to $1850 the next year. So I started here in what year are we in?

[00:06:49]2023.

[00:06:51]So it was 1725. Then the next year it was$1850. Then the next year it became now it's 1900. This is the third year.

[00:07:00]And I just got an email that my rent is going to be 2125.

[00:07:04]So I messaged >> I mean I know that nobody likes their rent to go up, right?

[00:07:12]But this kind of just tells me the state of where we are. That your rent going up one or 200 bucks, we're going to have no margin anymore at all. Like $2,000 for the entire year is what you got to just spend on yourself if you just wanted to go get Chick-fil-A today.

[00:07:30]So, when we see the statistics about most Americans not having $1,000 saved, not having any money saved for retirement, like this is just the state that people are in. They have no extra margin, barely making ends, meet living, quite literally paycheck to paycheck because when the 15th comes, they only have an extra $100 if that, if that, to just spend on anything. It's crazy. ed back and just said, "Hey, I just want to clarify this. Does this include parking?" Like, what what is happening for, mind you, a studio apartment that I love because I've made it home, but I mean, I don't have a dishwasher. I don't have laundry in unit. I don't have um the proper outlets for plugging stuff in. Like, there's all sorts of quirky things with this apartment. I have been feeling more ready to leave this place because I should live in something that's like new and like it's not even diva to like want normal things like a dishwasher and like like I don't even need a dishwasher.

[00:08:37]I've been doing my dishes for like 4 years without a dishwasher. Laundry and unit like like wanting a normal place to park my car like like wanting outlets so it's safe. I can't even like use the appliances that I have. Like I have to use my air fryer on the floor because it does not reach to the outlet in the one outlet in the kitchen. So there are things that I have let pass cuz when I first moved here it was just like a quick spot and then I >> Yeah. And they don't care about any of that. They don't like they're going to say you saw this before you leased it.

[00:09:10]No landlord is going to go add an extra receptacle for They're just not They're just not going to do that. They don't care. They don't care. I made it home. I love where I live. The tea is right here. The bus, it's so easy to get to work. It's so convenient. But I think now it's my time to go. Two tw over $2,100 for a studio apartment.

[00:09:31]>> No, I think that she's going to stay because it does seem like the benefits are outweighing this extra $2,000 a year. You got parking, you got public transport, you got access, easy to get to work. you like it. She gonna pay that. She gonna pay it. She not going nowhere.

[00:09:52]>> So, can we stop telling people that they're living above their means when they start complaining about the cost of things? Cuz when I got this apartment right here, clearly you can see it's a starter apartment. It's not anything luxury. Clearly not anything luxury. Not luxury at all. Look at the blinds. It's not It's kind of a nice apartment.

[00:10:10]It's a nice apartment. It also depends on where it is. Where's this located?

[00:10:15]Are you going to tell us where it is?

[00:10:16]It's not luxury. Look at the closet.

[00:10:18]It's not luxury. Know what I paid? What does that say? Oh, $9.45 a month for a onebedroom. Y'all can see 2019 lease was ending in 2020. 2020. You want to know what that apartment goes for now? Guess guess.

[00:10:38]2716.

[00:10:40]>> Know what it goes for now?

[00:10:42]>> Oh, still.

[00:10:44]>> Almost $2,000. Wow.

[00:10:47]>> Why don't we just follow the advice of a boomer? Why don't we just purchase a home? But even the small rinky dink homes like this are going for $323,000.

[00:10:58]The gag is as early as 2014, this home sold for $48,000.

[00:11:05]>> That's not fair though. That's like 2 years after the absolute bottom of the housing market in 2011, 2012. So that's that's not fair. I mean, a better look would have been this 2021 price. That would have been the peak of what it was worth. Let's see what that 2021 price is. Will you move?

[00:11:25]>> $48,000.

[00:11:27]And if you look in 20 >> Okay, so 12. It sold for $39,000.

[00:11:37]Have the audacity to be charging $323,000.

[00:11:41]I'm not even going to talk about gas prices.

[00:11:42]>> It'll sell for 300. I'm not even going to talk about gas prices. I didn't even talk about groceries. These are literally the essentials. Just just living. The living expenses are astronomical. But for some reason, y'all keep telling people that they're just living above their means. I remind you this apartment is almost $2,000 and it's not a luxury apartment. Y'all want to hop into the comment section talking about, "Oh, well, I found an apartment that was $700 a month." Yeah. And as soon as you click on the reviews, you see roach infestation. rodent infestation, guns, shooting, weed, all of these things. People should not be subjected to that if they don't.

[00:12:22]>> The thing is, even in the luxury apartments, that's all going down too.

[00:12:25]When we moved to Dallas in uh what 2020, just before the pandemic, we were in what is always advertised as luxury apartment. It wasn't a luxury, it was a regular apartment, but it's a luxury apartment. Brand new. We were some of it was like 20% occupancy at the time. It took like 4 months for that apartment to get ran down cuz people don't know how to act right. Dogs peeing and pooping on the carpet. People smoking and leaving their people People don't act right. People do not act right. It doesn't matter. So, let me give the optimistic case its fair shot because it actually isn't crazy. If you got a renewal notice this year and it barely moved, what you're actually experiencing is a market that has healed itself. It looks like there's nothing going wrong. And if you watch the financial news, the headlines agree national rent growth is running somewhere around 1 to 3%, the lowest in years. And for us that have been renters in the past 5 10 years, we know it was getting crazy when that rental renewal came up. So people are making a very honest argument when they say that a record wave of apartment construction finally caught up with demand. Landlords lost their pricing power and the market fixed the problem on its own. If you believe rent is set by supply and demand, and it mostly is, then 2026 looks like the system is actually working exactly the way that it should.

[00:13:51]And I mostly agree with that argument.

[00:13:53]It's just that argument has a couple of holes that we're going to need to poke and point out right now. The reason rent calmed down is a building boom that already peaked. Developers delivered about 690,000 apartments at the end of 2024, a 40-year high. Then high interest rates made new construction way too expensive and deliveries started collapsing, down to roughly 523,000 last year. And what's worse is there's only a forecast of 333,000 this year.

[00:14:21]That's the lowest supply number since 2014. So now we have this problem. Less supply with new demand is the exact recipe for rents to climb again. And forecasters already see it coming. Rent growth is projected to reacelerate towards 3 and 12 to almost 4% by 2028.

[00:14:38]So what we're seeing here is the calm that we're experiencing isn't necessarily a cure. It's the eye of the storm. And even this flat rent that we're experiencing is brutal once you start realizing where we came from.

[00:14:51]Since 2019, rent is up 34%. Wages over that same stretch are up about 27%. That seven-point gap doesn't just reset because the year happened to be quiet.

[00:15:01]No, that's locked in. We all had to get used to those high expenses. Go back further and from 2000 to 2022, rent grew more than six times faster than real household income. 12 million American households now hand over at least half of everything they earn just for rent and utilities. But I want to know in the comments section below, what do you guys think about all this? What are you guys seeing in your area? Do you guys think that the status quo right now is going to remain in the long term? Do you guys see rent prices continuing to trend lower or do you guys see them exploding in the future? Let me know in the comment section below. They even want us to be here for real. They are saying rent prices have increased 35% since before the pandemic. What? I'm currently moving out my apartment in Chicago in West Loop where I pay $2,700 in base rent and I'm not moving out because of the price. my current building nonrenew my lease due to renovations because they want to charge even more for this apartment. Don't get me wrong, as my first apartment in Chicago, I loved this place. The convenience, the view. Hold on, let me show you. I wish I had my other blinds open, but yeah, got to get that done. Forgot to mention that I live in a one bed, one bath, and I live in a high-rise building in Wesley. I'm nosy, so I did some digging. Who going to check me? I wanted to find out what they were going to charge for this unit with the renovations. So, I went on the website. After some light investigative work, I found out that the unit above me is actually going to be available April 2nd. You want to know how I know it's getting renovated?

[00:16:23]>> Oh, and the apartment that was listed had the same last two numbers as mine, so I know it's the one right on top of me.

[00:16:31]Same floor plan, same one bed, one bath.

[00:16:33]That apartment was listed for $3,200.

[00:16:35]And I want to understand what renovations could you possibly be doing that would make that apartment be $500 more valuable per month. I'm renting my new apartment. They're just creating money by doing this because this is a commercial building. They're going to raise the cap rate by getting y'all out of there, raising the rents by $500 each, which means they're making an extra $6,000 per unit, which makes the amount they're going to be able to sell that building for that multiple out of there. This ain't even a rent situation at this point. They're not trying to keep this and collect rent.

[00:17:09]know they're going to flip this and tell sell it to some private equity company or something >> from a private landlord. So, I'm hoping I don't experience this. Who knows? For real. I read online that Chicago rent is increasing by 4% each year.

[00:17:21]>> I cannot fathom paying $1,000 a month to live with three other people. It literally bothers me that rent prices have gotten so insane that you're going to pay 4 grand for a tiny unit. So, like for example, the situation I was in was I graduated college, I got a full-time job. It was downtown and so there wasn't a lot of options and I couldn't afford to live by myself. So I had to live with like three other college students. I paid $1,000 to live with three girls.

[00:17:45]Keep in mind our unit was tiny. I could not fit like literally anything in my room. I was like crammed. I've learned like how to be a minimalist now because like I had no room in that apartment. My walking pad was like literally right next to my bed. Like there was no privacy. But I'm just not understanding like how people are graduating college and like moving out on their own, trying to be independent, trying to like stream away from their parents, and you're gonna tell me that it costs $1,000 to live with three other people. So obviously, if I didn't live with three other people, I'd be paying $2,000 in rent. $2,000. Keep in mind that that doesn't include any other bill you have on top of the fact that that is literally like half of what you make. I just the math like doesn't make sense in my brain. the fact that now I live in a lot less busy area and the rent is still expensive. I don't live anywhere near where I go to school. I drive there every day and the rent is still expensive. When I moved into this apartment, we didn't even have a washer and dryer. Like what do you mean? Like, and this is not me being a brat. Like, get better rent prices. I think one thing people don't understand when someone's explaining that their rent is so high, especially compared to some other places that are around them, it is impossible to just pick up and move. I live in Detroit, Michigan, and I'm paying $1,700 a month for rent. Besides the fact that trying to find places that are cheaper, that are actually decent is near impossible. Now, imagine trying to afford first month, last month security deposit when I'm already living paycheck to paycheck. So picking up and just moving.

[00:19:15]>> And the landlords, I'm not saying that they're just out here trying to get people. They've got to know this, though. They've got to know this. Thing is, they have bills, too. I've been a landlord before. Out of state landlord at that. If you have a mortgage on the property, you have bills. I mean, mom and pop landlords like me and other people during the pandemic when they had these rental moratoriums and all that, it's not like our properties weren't depreciating.

[00:19:42]People were breaking stuff. They wanted it fixed. It's costing us money and we cannot make money on the property to even cover the expenses. So, not everybody is Black Rockck. Some people are that's part of their retirement plan. They may own two or three homes. Maybe they have mortgages on them with low interest rates and they don't want to sell them because the interest rate is the asset in this economy.

[00:20:05]They understand because they are you.

[00:20:08]It's just everybody is kind of struggling at this point. It seems like >> it's not as easy as it sounds. People get roped into getting stuck at places that are so high in rent because it keeps rising. Just a few years ago, people were paying $800 and now they're paying 1,300 plus for the same apartment when nothing with the apartment has actually changed. I can't afford to pay thousands of dollars right away when I can't even afford to get the groceries I need. I'm a little concerned um just on how my generation and the future generations are supposed to buy homes.

[00:20:43]So, how are we supposed to buy a home when minimum homes are 300,000?

[00:20:49]20% of 300,000 is 60,000.

[00:20:52]So, for me to have to save up >> 300 for a home, I know that seems bad, but some of us that live in these metro areas, it's like if you can find a $300,000 home, you got to steal.

[00:21:06]I ain't seen a $300,000 home like in years.

[00:21:11]Like, you don't need 20%. You could get one, two, 3% um or down payments for first-time home buyers. Like, that this is possible.

[00:21:22]But even that, like I don't know. I'm not confident people can even save one, two, 3%.

[00:21:28]Damn for some of these houses. Even at 300,000, even at $100,000 house, if you can find a house for that, I don't know if people can do it necessarily.

[00:21:36]>> $20,000 just to put down. Never mind closing costs and your realtor that you have to pay and all of the other fees that you have to pay, which could be a minimum of like 8 to 15,000 for closing costs. I've heard people pay way more.

[00:21:51]Um, and then what if you want to have a family? What if your your girlfriend or your wife gets pregnant and you're like, "Hey, we should raise this baby." How are you going to afford it? Who's going to watch your baby?

[00:22:04]So, I just want to like think about that for people who are rushing into relationships and rushing to grow up. It is very difficult. Not only because you can't afford anything unless you make above 100,000, especially in the New England, you just can't afford to live.

[00:22:19]Like, you can't even afford to save money. You can't afford to go on vacation. Most of these people are living paycheck to paycheck. So, don't rush to move out.

[00:22:26]>> Here in New York City, one of the most expensive places in America to live.

[00:22:29]This man right here has made his home on the streets. He said he could no longer afford to pay rent. Here, the average rent is around $4,500 a month, while the minimum wage is $16 an hour. This man says, "I no longer can afford to pay rent." He's literally moved all his belongings outside. He's out here sitting on a chair relaxing.

[00:22:51]>> Is she going to talk?

[00:22:52]>> He has his blankets, his >> or she just going to talk around him. I don't I don't like this. I I love investigative journalism. I love people like going out on the street and actually seeing and talking to people, but this feels off to me. Is he gonna talk? Is he strung out? Does he sleep?

[00:23:12]>> Cushions from his couch pallets >> touching his stuff.

[00:23:15]>> And he says he's living a great life now. He says, "I have no overhead. I've never felt more free as he's living here on the streets in New York City. It's so expensive to live here. People are literally going homeless on the streets.

[00:23:37]Is he sleep? Now, what I'm about to say may piss a lot of landlords off, but I don't really care at all. But I'm going to read to y'all the qualifications that this person want for this house. And it ain't an amazing house. We're not talking about anything super expensive.

[00:23:53]The rent, like I said, is $16.95, $40 application fee per adult. They want you to make three and a half times the rent.

[00:24:01]Standard for whatever reason is three times the rent. When the when majority of Americans don't even make three times a $1,600 a month rent, I don't know where people just get off and be like, "Oh yeah, we're just going to make this a national standard that people have to make three times the rent amount."

[00:24:18]Majority of people can afford two times the rent on a on a specific basic home like this. But this person is going even further. They don't want you to have three times the rent. They want you to have three and a half times the rent.

[00:24:30]They want the last two years of your W2s, the last three months of your check, stub, driver's license, or ID, social, security card. They want you to make two months worth of rent as your security deposit before you even move in. And you have to have a credit score of at least a 670. I'm trying to tell you off the bat off the off the bat that disqualifies so many people from being able to be in a home.

[00:24:59]>> But that's exactly what they want. This is a self- selecting process. Like this is the filtering process. They do not want certain people to be living in their homes. So they make all the criteria in such a way that they just get eliminated or just dis get discouraged from even applying. That is decent. Let's add that up, why don't we?

[00:25:21]Off the rip, you have to pay first month's rent, $16.95.

[00:25:25]You have to pay $40 application fee per adult. And let's just say the standard adult is two adults, right? You have to pay if you have a pet, which majority of people in Houston do have pets, dogs.

[00:25:36]It's a $250 uh non-refundable fee per pet. So, let's just say you have a pet. We're going to add that up. And then you have to make two months of the of the rent to equal the the amount of the security deposit.

[00:25:50]So that's $16.95 time two. All right.

[00:25:54]And on top of that, we're not even talking about your utilities and all the things that you have set up. They want you to have rental insurance before you move in. Standard rental insurance is probably about $25 a month. Let's just say that. Before you can even move into this house, sitting in a savings account somewhere or just idled money, you already got to come off of this amount of money.

[00:26:18]>> Are you stressed out? Worried?

[00:26:21]>> Yes.

[00:26:24]>> After 4 years of calling this place home, 88-year-old Irene Barry's rent just went up, way up. When she called me and told me about this letter, it shocked me because I'm like, there's no way she can pay that amount.

[00:26:40]>> The notice came in January, raising the rent from 795 to 1350 a month, a roughly 70% increase for the 4-unit home on 10th Street in the West Grand. The property management company, Union Suites, justifying the cost, saying it's in line with the state's rent standard for a three-bedroom. The owner telling me they're not in the business of evicting residents and are committed to helping tenants apply for rental assistance.

[00:27:10]Irene's daughter sifting through a stack of paperwork, applying for all the help they can get.

[00:27:15]>> I don't want to see my mother in this predicament.

[00:27:18]>> Irene is not alone in this crisis.

[00:27:21]Statewide, rent prices for a one-bedroom are up 19% from this time last year.

[00:27:27]>> It's happening frequently because the market is so tight in Grand Rapids right now for uh rental units at all levels, affordable all the way to to market that um landlords are trying to uh keep pace with what the market uh will allow.

[00:27:42]>> The director of the city's housing commission encouraging those struggling to reach out for help. folks who are paying u more than 50% of their income towards rent to be uh seeking some assistance on finding programs that can help them uh bear that burden better.

[00:27:58]>> A $500 rent increase isn't really a price change. It's like an eviction number with extra steps. A landlord is telling you to leave without necessarily saying the words. They know you're not going to take that deal, so they just make the renewal notice an offer that you have to refuse. The reason you might not get that notice this year is timing, not necessarily mercy. The apartment's going up right now or not going up decide what your rent looks like in 2027. So, this is the time to be vigilant. This is the time to be prudent. Proverbs 27:12 says that the prudent see danger and they take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty. The danger here isn't hidden.

[00:28:37]It's sitting right there in the construction numbers. The prudent thing is to spend this more quiet year getting ready for the loud one that's to come.

[00:28:45]And one of the best ways to do that is to go and subscribe at edwards economics.com because that's where I go deeper with more unfiltered thoughts and biblical application that I can't always get into here. If you got a friend who just shrugged and signed their renewal without reading the thing, send them this video before they do it again. And then while you're at it, go ahead and tell me in the comments, are you going to renegotiate your lease next year or are you just going to sign it? Thank you guys for watching this video. Once again, I pray the Lord blesses you, that he keeps you, that he turns his face towards you, that he lifts his countenance towards you, that he gives you favor, and that he gives you peace.