One thing about real estate (and therefore rents) is that it can go up _and_ down _at the same time_ in different segments. That's what I learned when buying my

One thing about real estate (and therefore rents) is that it can go up _and_ down _at the same time_ in different segments. That's what I learned when buying my house at the trough of the recession in 2009 or so. Higher end stuff tends to be pretty much unaffected, but for the lower end the bottom falls out. So I'd avoid drawing any broad generalizations.