Report: Bay Area rents continue on a 'strong upward trend'
OAKLAND, Calif. (KTVU) - New figures suggest there's no let up to skyrocketing apartment rental costs in the Bay Area, with Oakland emerging as the city with the fastest growing rents in the region.
Rental property listing service RENTCafe said that the Bay Area rental market remains extremely competitive, with the average rent for an apartment significantly higher than the national average, which reached $1,472 in August.
Compare that to $2,924 a month in Oakland, where apartment rentals saw an 8.5 percent increase in rents from a year ago.
"Oakland is about [to] become the first mid-sized city to surpass the $3,000 mark," RENTCafe said in its report.
Other Bay Area cities also saw significant year-over-year jumps. Menlo Park, which had the most expensive rents in the region averaged $4,389 in August, up 7.9 percent from a year ago.
In Foster City, the average was $3,545, with a growth rate of 7.7 percent from the previous year. In San Jose, the average was $2,790, with apartment prices 1.9 percent more expensive.
The RENTCafe analysis found San Francisco rents remained flat month-over-month at $3,706 in August, but were still 3.1 percent higher compared to the same time last year.
"Continued interest in rentals and insufficient supply of new apartments keep rates on a strong upward trend in the Bay Area," RENTCafe said.
If you're looking for a city that's bucking the upward trend, of the 44 large Bay Area cities analyzed in the report, only Santa Rosa saw a notable rent decrease from last year, with the average apartment rents costing $1,957 a month. That's a drop of 1.6 percent.
And the Bay Area city with the least expensive rents? The report said it was Vallejo, with an average of $1,773 a month.