Reno apartment rents have second highest increase in nation

Reno had the second highest jump in apartment rents in the nation in 2017, according to a report released Jan. 9 by apartment search site, ABODO.

The median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the Biggest Little City was $792 at the end of 2017, up by 3.2 percent, the report said.

New Orleans had the highest jump, up 4 percent, with Honolulu (2.4 percent), Seattle (2.1 percent), and Corpus Christi, Tex., (1.9 percent), rounding out the top five cities in the pace of rent increases.

Despite the climb in rates, Reno apartment rents remain below the national average.

Although homeownership is rebounding from its nadir last decade, renting now far outpaces ownership. According to a new report by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University (JCHS), renting households have been steadily rising since 2004, with 2017 marking the first slight decline in those 13 years. As of the middle of 2017, the JCHS estimates that there are about 43 million renters in the U.S. — more than a third of U.S. householders.

Nationally, the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment ended the year at $1,040, rising 2.4 percent.

San Francisco continues to hold the nation’s highest price even though the rate decreased by .9 percent. San Francisco’s average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment was $4,373 — more than $1,000 higher than New York City at $3,234 rents, which has the second highest rents in the nation. NYC rents also decreased, at .3 percent.

The cities with the third and fourth highest rents, Los Angeles, CA ($3,099), and Washington, D.C ($3,031), say rates rise throughout the year.

Of the cities tracked by ADOBO, renters in Detroit, MI, enjoyed the lowest average monthly rent of the year: $613 for a one-bedroom. At just a dollar more, Fort Wayne, IN, has the nation’s second-cheapest rent.

The biggest decreases in rents were seen in Fort Wayne, Ind., (down 2.8 percent), Lincoln, Neb. (down 2.2 percent), El Paso, Tex., (down 1.9 percent), Pittsburgh, Penn., (down 1.7 percent) and St. Paul, Minn. (down 1.7 percent).

The states with the highest rents were all on the coasts (or in the Pacific). Washington, D.C., tops the nation, with an average rent of $2,205, followed by Massachusetts ($1,945), Hawaii ($1,673), California ($1,631), and New York ($1,565). Aside from California, where rents fell slightly (an average of -.3% per month), all of these states typically saw their rents increase month to month in 2017.

Politically, culturally, and ecologically, 2017 was a year of anxiety. Hurricanes and flooding ravaged the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Texas. Political controversies dominated headlines and push-notifications. Relations with North Korea reached their lowest point in decades, raising fears of a nuclear standoff.

Economically, though, conditions remained stable in 2017. The economy continued to recover from the market crash of 2008, with unemployment reaching its lowest point in 17 years.

With the recent JHCS report predicting that the past decade of rapid growth in renting households might be coming to an end, we might be on the cusp of a new rental landscape. In 2017, we saw about eight months of slow declines in rent prices, followed by four months of increases that more than made up for the early year rent drops.

ABODO is a national apartment search site and research company. For the full report and information about ABODO’s methodology, go to:

https://www.abodo.com/blog/2017-annual-rent-report/