Apartment rents across the U.S. as a whole are slowing, but the dip has been hardest on luxury apartment rents in more affluent ZIP codes.
Zillow reports that nationwide rents grew 3.6 percent for the year ending April 2016; the rate was 5.4 percent for the year ending April 2015.
Rent appreciation has been smallest in luxury ZIP codes (the ZIP codes with the highest median rents per square foot in each metro). The report finds that Houston, New York City, and San Francisco all have cutoffs where rents experience a deceleration: $1.10 per square foot for Houston, $2.30 in New York City, and $3.80 for San Francisco.