(NewsNation) — Eviction filings increased by 35% or more in six larger American cities compared to pre-COVID trends, Princeton University’s Eviction Lab research unit found.
Half of the cities with the largest surges were found in the American Sun Belt: Las Vegas (43%), Houston (42%) and Phoenix (35%).
According to reporting by The Wall Street Journal, Phoenix eviction court hearings are frequently over in less than 60 seconds, with one judge signing off on an eviction filing after hearing the tenant failed to make rent just twice.
Evictions nationwide cooling to pre-pandemic levels
Despite the jump in evictions across the Southwest, the general trend seems to be nearing pre-2020 levels once again.
Some places, like New York City, Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware, recorded massive drops in evictions so far this year, likely due to new renter protection policies.
In the first five months of 2024, roughly 422,000 filings were recorded across the 33 cities and 10 states that Eviction Lab tracks. Though slight, the downward trend is shifting eviction nationwide back to previous levels.
Evictions increase alongside rent
The median national rent was $1,411 a month in June 2024, up from roughly $1,150 in early 2021 when Biden became president, according to Apartment List.
Asking prices for rentals jumped in the aftermath of the pandemic and have since cooled, but the Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies found in its most recent report that half of renters were “cost burdened” because they spend more than 30% of their income on housing and utilities.
“The recent unprecedented increases in homelessness in communities across the country are the result of those equally unprecedented — and unjustified — rent hikes of a couple years ago,” said Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition. “Had such protections against rent gouging been in place then, many families could have avoided homelessness and stayed stably housed.”
Homeownership costs hit 17-year high
A recent report found that buying a home in the U.S. today is less affordable than any other time in the last 17 years, only emphasizing the pressure many homebuyers may have already been feeling.
More than 35% of the average wage is currently going toward the typical costs of a home, the report from real estate data company ATTOM determined. Coupled with stubborn mortgage rates hovering around 6.95%, the thought of owning a home may feel out of reach for many.
It all comes at a time when nearly 80% of Americans say owning a home is part of the “American Dream.”
NewsNation’s Addy Bink and The Associated Press contributed to this report.