KC Renters Spent $24.3B in 2010s

Rents paid for housing in the Kansas City metro area over the last decade hit a total of $24.3 billion, according to a recent analysis by home-selling site Zillow, and the total amount paid this year were 69.1 percent higher than they were in 2010.

The rent increase was among the highest seen in U.S. cities. Kansas City was higher than San Jose, Calif., up 65.8 percent; Minneapolis, up 65.6 percent; and Phoenix, up 60.4 percent. 

On a regional comparison, Kansas City was much higher than the 37.8-percent rise in St. Louis and Oklahoma City’s 38.3-percent gain. Denver outpaced the KC metro, jumping 88.4 percent.

Kansas City’s total rent payments in 2019 were $2.9 billion, up 3.2 percent year over year, just higher than the 2.9-percent national average.

“While the total amount of rent paid has increased each year this decade, that trend is by no means immutable,” said Zillow Group Economist Joshua Clark, in a press release. “With rental appreciation expected to decrease in the coming year and a homeownership rate that has been ticking up over the past few years, a small or even negative change in total rental spending could be in the cards in the early 2020s.”