Another reason for higher rents is that developers can’t keep up with new demand in some places. “If you look at what cities there are good jobs, it’s really places in the south and southwest, like Houston, also places like Atlanta and Phoenix,” said Jack Liebersohn, an assistant professor of economics at the University of California, Irvine. Those cities have also seen new rental construction, and Liebersohn said that because the permitting process is fast in places like Houston, developers should be able to build new properties and rents could eventually stabilize.

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