For the first time in six months, renters might be getting a bit of relief from high apartment costs.
The latest report from ABODO found that in February the median national rent for one-bedroom apartments dropped for the first time in half a year. ABODO reported that the national median rent for one-bedrooms dropped from $1,046 in January of this yeaer to $1,044 in February.
Of course, that’s a drop of just $2 a month. But still it’s a sign that the steady rent increases the apartment market saw might be slowing.
Some cities saw steeper declines, with one-bedroom apartments in Minneapolis and St. Louis falling nearly 4 percent. In Cincinnati, one-bedrooms fell 2.9 percent, from $824 a month to $800.
Other Midwest cities seeing big rent decreases included Cleveland, where the median one-bedroom rent fell from $777 a month in January to $740 in February, a drop of 4.8 percent. And in Ann Arbor, Michigan, rents dropped from $1,131 in January to $1,100 in February, a dip of 2.7 percent.
What about increases? In the Midwest, St. Paul, Minnesota, saw its median one-bedroom rent rise from $1,148 a month in January to $1,250 in February, an increase of 8.9 percent, the biggest jump in the country.
One-bedroom rents in Indianapolis jumped from $790 a month to $826 a month, good for a jump of 4.4 percent.