Apartment rents in the city of Kent dropped 0.3 percent in March compared to February.
No other city in the Seattle metro area had rents drop, according to apartmentlist.com, which compiles monthly reports. Despite the drop, rents are up 2.5 percent in Kent compared to March 2018.
Median rents in Kent stand at $1,460 for a one-bedroom apartment and $1,810 for a two-bedroom. This is the third straight month that the city has seen rent decreases after an increase in December 2018. Kent’s year-over-year rent growth leads the state average of 1.4 percent, as well as the national average of 1.3 percent.
While Kent’s rents rose moderately over the past year, many cities nationwide also saw increases, including Phoenix (+3.7 percent), Austin (+3.1 percent), and Denver (+2.0 percent).
Lakewood has the least expensive rents in the Seattle metro area, with a two-bedroom median of $1,460; the city has also experienced the fastest rent growth in the metro area, with a year-over-year increase of 4.2 percent.
Rents increased slightly in other cities across the state, with Washington as a whole logging rent growth of 1.4 percent over the past year. Rents have grown by 1.5 percent in Vancouver and 1.2 percent in Spokane.
Renters will generally find more expensive prices in Kent than most large cities. For example, Spokane has a median 2BR rent of $900, where Kent is more than twice that price.
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