In our July report we asked if the 2018 rent price increase had finally found the bottom, and according to August stats, both one-bedroom and two-bedroom prices are indeed on the rise.
Continuing the new upward trend, median national one-bedroom rents increased slightly by $5 to $1,013 while nudging closer to levels not seen since May. One-bedroom units are still down 3.15 percent YTD, however.
Two-bedroom apartments posted a large $32 gain to an median of $1,262 while cutting the yearly deficit by almost two-thirds to a mere 0.64 percent. This represents a significant move.
1-Bedroom Apartments
Big changes here as July’s number one increaser wouldn’t even make it onto August’s chart.
In August, Columbus, OH led the leaders with a hefty 14.2 percent increase, followed by Syracuse, NY with an 11.7 percent rise.
Orlando, FL, Dayton, OH and Los Angeles, CA were up by 10 to 10.7 percent with Baltimore, MD in spot number six with a median August rent of $1232 — an 8.2 percent increase over July.
Four cities were bunched from seven through ten with Las Vegas, NV, Milwaukee, WI, Athens, GA and Bakersfield, CA all boasting 6.7 to 7.6 percent increases.
Interestingly, the August range of decreases mirrored the July stats as the top ten reported decreases of 4.6 percent to 1.6 percent.
Fort Worth, TX and Little Rock, AK saw the biggest drops at -4.6 percent and -4.2 percent respectively.
Columbia, SC, Ann Arbor, MI and Baton Rouge, LA all fell by 2.9 percent. Jacksonville, FL, Denver, CO, Columbus, GA, Durham, NC and College Station, MD rounded out the top ten drops with an average decrease of 2.16 percent.d
2-Bedroom Apartments
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame host Cleveland, OH showed the biggest two-bedroom increase at 12.9 percent moving from a very affordable $737 to $832. Pricey Scottsdale, AZ followed with an massive 11 percent rise to $1,950 from July’s $1,756. Las Vegas, NV, Long Beach, CA, and New Orleans, LA were not far behind with increases in the 8.0 to 9.6 percent range.
The second half of the top 10 increasers all posted monthly gains of over 5 percent with Baltimore, MD leading at 6.3 percent, and San Francisco, CA, Orlando, FL, and Los Angeles, CA moving by 5.2 to 6.3 percent.
Like one-bedroom units, August drops were much tamer than August rises as Richardson, TX led the list with a 4.6 percent decrease to $1,479. Cold Fargo, ND and warm Jacksonville, FL shared decreases of 3.7 to 3.3 percent while Charleston, SC, Portland, OR, mile-high Denver, CO and Pittsburgh, PA all fell by 2.2 to 2.9 percent.
Rounding out the top ten two-bedroom declines were Mesa, AZ and Gainesville, FL with less than 2 percent decreases each.
Rent Report Recap: Where We Stand
July saw an end to consistent 2018 decreases, and August continued the modest up-trend.
As the Fed continues to raise interest rates while unemployment remains low, the fires of inflation look to be rekindled, and this will add to upward apartment rent momentum.
Locally, as in cities like Austin, TX where thousands of new apartment units have recently come online, increases may be muted for a while, but as of now, the national trend is up. Let’s see what September brings.
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Methodology
Each month, using over 1 million Rentable listings across the United States, we calculate the median 1-bedroom and 2-bedroom rent prices by city, state, and nation, and track the month-over-month percent change. To avoid small sample sizes, we restrict the analysis for our reports to cities meeting minimum population and property count thresholds.
