Kent apartment rent jumps make national top 10 list

Kent cracked a top 10 nationwide list for the biggest hikes in apartment rents.

Kent ranks sixth – just behind Seattle and Los Angeles – with the largest rent hikes over the past year. Kent rents jumped an average of $117 per month in August compared to the same month in 2016, according to the California-based apartment search website rentcafe.com.

Kent’s apartment rents averaged $1,411 per month in August, an increase of 7 percent from a year ago. The rankings are based on the dollar amount, not the percentage jump.

After more than 12 months of constantly topping the rent growth charts, California is no longer home to the fastest-growing rents in the U.S.; Midland puts Texas ahead in the rent race, with Odessa claiming the No. 2 spot.

Midland led the dollar amount jump at $208 followed by Odessa at $171 and Thousand Oaks, Calif., at $140. Seattle ranked fourth with an average rent jump of $137 and Los Angeles fifth at $136. The average monthly rents in Midland were $1,201. Seattle’s monthly rents were $2,004 and Los Angeles $2,282.

A whopping 84 percent of the 250 biggest cities in the U.S. (209 in total) have experienced rent growth over the past year. Just 31 cities saw rents flat-line, while 10 cities had rent decreases.

Manhattan’s rental market may be slowing down but the exclusive New York City borough still remains the most expensive place to rent in the country with average rents north of $4,000 per month.

With apartment construction at a 20-year high, more units are hitting the market than ever before. This boost in supply is driving rents downward – or at least muting any further growth – in many parts of the nation.

As such, rents essentially flat-lined for the month of August, with the average rent coming in at $1,352 – just $1 higher than July and only 2.4 percent over August 2016, according to Yardi Matrix. This marks the slowest annual growth rate in more than three years.