Is it a renter's market? It depends on where you live

Standing with her boyfriend, Carson McDonald, on June 4, Chloe Troub believes it's insulting to say it's a renter's market given the sheer cost of rent. Stephan Bisaha/NPR hide caption

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At least, it looked that way from the texts showing up on Mason Comans' phone a few months ago when he was apartment hunting. One property manager wrote that they were offering one month of free rent. Another offered two.

"I even saw some places doing three months, three and a half months free," Comans said.

This is what a renter's market looks like, said Zillow senior economist Kara Ng: "Renters, this is your year."

The typical asking price for rent nationally is now rising slower than wages and inflation — 1.9% year over year in April , according to Zillow. By contrast, the latest inflation report , in May, showed that consumer prices more broadly were up 4.2% compared with a year ago.

Figures from Realtor.com say rent has actually gone down 1.5% year over year. And Ng added that a record 39.8% of rentals on Zillow offered move-in incentives in April, from waived fees to a month or more of free rent.

An extra few thousand dollars from move-in concessions is a sizable cushion for American families that are being squeezed on other expenses, such as power bills and gasoline. "Rent is the place giving you that breathing room," Ng said.