Zillow report: Median Rent Prices on the Rise as Home Values Drop

While homes prices continue to be on the decline, rent prices are actually on the rise and showed a 3 percent increase from January 2011 to January 2012, as opposed to home values, which dropped 4.6 percent during that same period, according to the January Zillow Real Estate Market Reports. Zillow data also showed year-over-year gains for 69.2 percent of metropolitan areas covered by the index while only 7.3 percent of metros saw increases in home values. Based on the Zillow Rent Index, the states with the greatest increases in median rent over a year were New Jersey (+16.5), New York (+13.7), Kansas (+10.2), Indiana (+10), and Michigan (+10.0). » Read More