Changes in Rental Prices Reveal the Hottest and Coolest Markets

Since the onset of the pandemic, big cities such as New York and Los Angeles have lost residents while mid-sized, more affordable cities are growing in popularity. In response to these shifts, urban rents have been changing. San Francisco one-bedroom apartments have dropped 45% in cost while Los Vegas experienced rent increases, according to a report by Apartment Guide. Manhattan has also experienced a 27% rent drop, but one editor at Apartment Guide suggests the prices will level off as cities begin to reopen. The top cities losing renter demand, resulting in price drops, are  San Francisco, Chesapeake, Va., Manhattan, and Long Beach, Calif.

“For renters, this is a prime opportunity to get into an expensive area for way less than it would have cost before the pandemic,” hey says.

To conduct the report, Apartment Guide compared rent price data from March 2020 to March 2021 using apartment listing from both ApartmentGuide.com and Rent.com.

Here are the U.S. cities where average rent for a one-bedroom is increasing and decreasing the most, according to the Apartment Guide report.

Cities where average one-bedroom rents are increasing
1. Kansas City, Missouri

Rents are up 33.5%

2. Gilbert, Arizona

Rents are up 26%

3. Las Vegas

Rents are up 25.3%

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