Rents were up 1.5% nationwide in May, down 40 basis points from April, 90 basis points from March and well below the 5.3% growth rate of a year ago. Deceleration is more than firmly established, as the year-over-year growth rate has decreased for 13 straight months since reaching 5.4% in April 2016. The last time the year-over-year increase was as low as 1.5% was in April 2011.