Apartment rents in Kent were up 2.1 percent in December compared to the same month a year ago.
Rents went up 0.5 percent in December compared to the previous month, according to apartmentlist.com. This is the third straight month that the city has seen rent increases after a decline in September.
Median rents in Kent stand at $1,496 for a one-bedroom apartment and $1,863 for a two-bedroom. The national average for two-bedroom rent is $1,192. Kent’s year-over-year rent growth leads the state average of 1.9 percent, as well as the national average of 1.4 percent.
Throughout the past year, rent increases have been occurring not just in the city of Kent, but across the entire Seattle-Tacoma metro area. Of the largest 10 cities that apartmentlist.com compiles data for in the Seattle metro area, all of them have seen prices rise.
Lakewood has the least expensive rents in the metro area, with a two-bedroom median of $1,502; the city has also experienced the fastest rent growth in the area, with a year-over-year increase of 3.8 percent.
Over the past month, Auburn has seen the biggest rent drop in the area, with a decline of 0.7 percent. Median two-bedrooms there cost $1,710, while one-bedrooms go for $1,373.
Bellevue has the most expensive rents of the largest cities in the Seattle metro area, with a two-bedroom median of $2,389; rents decreased 0.4 percent over the past month but were up 3.2 percent over the past year.
Rents increased slightly in other cities across the state, up by 2.2 percent in Spokane and 1.5 percent in Vancouver. Spokane has a median two bedroom rent of $897.
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