SAN JOSE, Calif. _ A new report dissecting rent trends across the Bay Area is filled with bad news for tenants. With a handful of exceptions, today's rents are higher in most of the region's cities than they were a year ago.
The fastest rent growth was in Concord, where year-over-year rents were up 7.3 percent, according to the report from the ApartmentList.com website. A median two-bedroom apartment in Concord now rents for $3,010 and a one-bedroom fetches $2,400.
The region's highest rents are in Cupertino, where a one-bedroom costs $3,990 monthly and a two-bedroom brings $5,000. The cheapest rents are in Oakland, where a one-bedroom costs $1,760 and a two-bedroom rents for $2,210. Almost as cheap is Campbell, where a one-bedroom fetches $1,890 and a two-bedroom goes for $2,370.
Of course, the year-over-year increases are not nearly what they were a couple of years ago, when debilitating double-digit increases were the norm. But the fact remains: Even so-called modest increases are hard for many renters to handle.
For instance, the year-over-year rent increases in San Jose were up only 3.0 percent, compared with 2.7 percent nationwide. Yet San Jose's median rent for a two-bedroom unit _ $2,570 _ is more than double the national median of $1,160.
Likewise San Francisco rents were up just 1.8 percent year-over-year, but that doesn't spell much relief for tenants. A median one-bedroom apartment costs $2,450 while a two-bedroom costs $3,070.
Here and there, rents fell on a year-over-year basis: In Berkeley by 3.2 percent, the biggest drop in the Bay Area; in Daly City by 2.2 percent; and in Campbell by 0.3 percent.
But everywhere else, the trend was up, according to the report.
