CNBC, Edited by DianaOlick

Buying a home is getting more and more expensive, thanks to sharp increases in both prices and mortgage rates. That is juicing demand for apartment rentals and, in turn, pushing rents higher.

Rents in the third quarter of this year were up 2.9 percent compared with a year ago, according to RealPage, a real estate analytics firm. That's up from 2.5 percent annual growth in the second quarter. Rent growth had been slowing for the past three years, thanks to a big increase in supply of new rental units. The reversal in rents, however, may be short-lived. Read the full article.