The idea here isn’t to argue that rents are currently not keeping up with prices. The data is what it is, and I don’t have reason to doubt it is basically right.*
My point is that relatively slow asking rent growth “only” in the low double digits isn’t a sign that prices are excessive and overshooting rents. The article’s comparison of them suggested otherwise.
Rather, I think rents are temporally below their current equilibrium level.
*My periodic searches for rent data suggest the data quality is pretty low, with huge gaps from the various sources.
My guess is that Zillow will eventually have the best rent data, though the monthly rent estimates it sends for me on my condo have ranged from 2400 to 3500 in the last year, and swings wildly.
