Zumper aggregates and analyzes active listing data on a monthly basis to calculate median asking rents across the country, providing a comprehensive view of the current state of the market. This post discusses the rental trends the top 10 most expensive cities saw this year.
1. San Francisco, CA
The most expensive city in the nation saw a very flat year in rent growth, ending 2017 with one bedroom prices up 1.5% and two bedrooms down 2.9% since last year. One bedroom prices never hit or surpassed the $3,500 threshold this whole year, which is surprising since the city spent about half its year in 2016 priced above that amount.
2. New York, NY
The second priciest rental market saw an even more downward trend than San Francisco, with one and two bedroom rent in New York City down 3.7% and 5%, respectively, since this time last year. One bedroom rent stayed under the $3,000 threshold the whole year, hitting a high of $2,950 in June.
3. San Jose, CA
San Jose finished off the year with the third most expensive one bedroom rent, at $2,460, and also with the third largest yearly growth rate, at 13.4%. Two bedroom prices were in line with this trend as well, climbing 9.6% since this time last year. It seems the tech market in Silicon Valley has not slowed down as demand for housing here is at a record high.
4. Washington, DC
D.C. had the second largest one bedroom yearly growth rate, at 15.3%, and the largest two bedroom yearly growth rate, at 13.6%. The city did not rank in the top 5 for the first half of the year but moved back up to fourth and remained at that position since our July report.
5. Los Angeles, CA
L.A one bedroom rent was the fastest growing since this time last year, climbing 15.6%. Two bedrooms also saw a big price spike, jumping 11.1%. Notably, this city is fiercely beating the current, usually slow moving season with one bedroom rent hitting the priciest amount all year in this report at $2,300.
6. Boston, MA
Boston had a relatively stable year in rent price growth. One bedroom prices were up 0.9% since this time last year, while two bedrooms saw a larger increase, climbing 3.8%. Though Boston started off the year holding onto its position as third for the first few months, rent slowed down and it dropped to become fifth/sixth priciest around the middle of the year and remained there.
7. Oakland, CA
Oakland one bedroom rent fluctuated between $2,000 and $2,300 throughout the year but never hit or passed the $2,300 threshold. It ended the year with one and two bedroom rents up a slight 3.3% and 1.6%, respectively.
8. Seattle, WA
The eight most expensive city saw a similar trend to Boston, with both bedroom types increasing slightly in rent since this time last year. One bedroom prices grew 1.1% and two bedrooms increased 1.7%.
*Note this chart compares December 2016 rental data with December 2017’s
9. Miami, FL
Miami held the steadiest one bedroom rent in the top markets, staying at $1,800 for the majority of the year but taking a small dip to around $1,750 in the last few months of 2017. One bedroom rent ended the year down 2.8% and two bedrooms down 4%.
10. San Diego, CA
San Diego rounded off the top markets with the fourth largest yearly rental growth rate for one bedrooms, up 10.9%. Two bedroom prices saw a smaller increase, climbing 5.1%.
Source Bio:Crystal lives and breathes rental data at Zumper. She spends her days forming it as written content pieces or fun infographics and talking to everyone from coworkers to the press about it.
