Apartment rents flat in Kent in September but up 8.2% from 2021

Published 10:36 am Thursday, September 8, 2022

Kent apartment rents remained flat in September, however, they are up sharply by 8.2% year-over-year.

Currently, median rents in Kent stand at $1,470 for a one-bedroom apartment and $1,895 for a two-bedroom, the same price as in August when rates dropped 0.4% from the previous month, according to the latest apartmentlist.com monthly report. Kent’s year-over-year rent growth leads the state average of 5.6%, as well as the national average of 7.5%.

Throughout the past year, rent increases have been occurring not just in the city of Kent, but across the entire Seattle-Tacoma metro area.

• Renton has seen the fastest rent growth in the metro area, with a year-over-year increase of 11.5%. The median two-bedroom there costs $2,193, while one-bedrooms go for $1,731.

• Over the past month, Bellevue has seen the biggest rent drop in the area, with a decline of 1.7%. Median two-bedrooms there cost $2,379, while one-bedrooms go for $2,132.

• Lakewood has the least expensive rents in the Seattle-Tacoma metro area, with a two-bedroom median of $1,441; rents decreased 1.1% over the past month but were up 1.7% over the past year.

• Redmond has the most expensive rents of the largest cities in the Seattle metro area, with a two-bedroom median of $2,446; rents went down 1.5% over the past month but rose 10.3% over the past year.

As rents have increased sharply in Kent, a few large cities nationwide have seen rents grow more modestly. Compared to most large cities across the country, Kent is less affordable for renters.

Washington as a whole has logged 5.6% year-over-year growth, while rent trends across other cities throughout the state have varied. For example, rents have grown by 8.2% in Vancouver.

Kent’s median two-bedroom rent of $1,895 is above the national average of $1,360. Nationwide, rents have grown by 7.5% over the past year compared to the 8.2% rise in Kent.

While Kent’s rents rose sharply over the past year, many cities nationwide also saw increases, including New York City (plus 12.1%), Austin (plus 8.3%) and Boston (plus 6.6%).

Renters will generally find more expensive prices in Kent than most large cities. For example, Spokane has a median two-bedroom rent of $1,330, where Kent is nearly one-and-a-half times that price.