There’s a reason the multifamily sector remains the top choice of investors and developers: apartment rents are high, and demand for these units keeps rising.
That’s the takeaway from ABODO’s 2016 rent report. According to the company, the average U.S. renter paid $1,001 a month to live in an apartment last year. And while monthly rents did fluctuate throughout the year, ABODO reports that the average monthly apartment rent rose a total of $85 from January through December of last year.
Monthly rents, of course, did fluctuate by state. In the Midwest, renters in Minnesota paid an average of $1,079 a month for a one-bedroom apartment. That ranked as the highest in the Midwest. In Illinois — led undoubtedly by rents in Chicago — renters paid an average of $860 a month for a one-bedroom apartment, second highest in the Midwest.
In Michigan, renters paid an average of $735 a month, while in Iowa they shelled out an average of $776. In Indiana, they paid an average of $592 a month, lowest among Midwest states.
Every Midwest state, though, did see average apartment rents increase in 2016.
Apartment rents remained high in January of this year among the country’s major cities, with San Francisco — no surprise — leading the way. The average rent here hit $3,526 a month, according to ABODO. Chicago, also to no one’s surprise, led the Midwest, with an average monthly apartment rent in January of $1,725. That only ranked ninth in the country, though.