03:59 PM EDT, 09/19/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Rent affordability improved last month as asking prices fell on both sequential and annual bases, though the rental market remains close to its August 2022 peak, News Corp.'s ( NWSA ) Realtor.com said in a Thursday report.

The median asking rent for studio to two-bedroom properties in the 50 biggest US metros tracked by Realtor.com declined by 0.3% year over year in August to $1,753. It was the 13th straight month rents fell against year-earlier comparisons. From July, rents were down $2, the report showed.

The biggest year-over-year decline occurred among studios, which were down 1.4%, according to the report. One- and two-bedroom asking rents were down 0.7% and 0.3%, respectively.

Still, rents were just 0.4%, or $7, lower than the peak reached in August 2022 while remaining about 20%, or $293, higher than August 2019.

"This increase is roughly on par with what has occurred in overall consumer prices (up 22.7% in the five years ending August 2024) and pales in comparison to the 51% increase in median price per square foot of for-sale home listings in the five years ending July 2024," the real estate marketplace wrote.

The "relative steadiness" of rents should help ease shelter inflation in the months ahead, Realtor.com said. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed earlier this month that shelter cost growth accelerated 10 basis points sequentially to 0.5% in August and was the primary contributor to the 0.2% monthly increase in the consumer price index.

The Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate on Wednesday by 50 basis points. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at a press conference that housing inflation is "the one piece" of the inflation puzzle that continues to drag. While market rents are rising at "relatively low levels," as the Fed expects, it's going to take time for that movement to translate to lower housing inflation, he said.

Renters earning the typical household income spent the equivalent of 25.1% of their income paying rents in August, down from 25.9% year over year in a sign that nationwide rent has become "slightly more affordable," Realtor.com said.

Price: 27.92, Change: +0.14, Percent Change: +0.50