PROVIDENCE – The city is among the top 10 metropolitan areas that have experienced the fastest increases in rents in the last six months, according to a report by Apartment List.
In fact, Providence was the only city mentioned in the July report that was listed in three different top-10 rankings – fastest growing rents for over the past six months, over the past 12 months and since the pandemic started in March 2020.
Researchers attributed this to affordable, midsize markets becoming more attractive to hybrid-remote workers.
Apartment List used its list property data and identified each rental unit’s most-likely transaction price from its available time series of rent. Researchers estimated each unit’s transaction price by pinpointing the last available rental price before a unit ceases to be vacant. The final data set is used to estimate a rent index for each geography and month of interest.
Over the past six months, Providence’s rents have grown 13%, the second fastest of all metros studied, according to the report. Rochester, N.Y., was first at 14%; San Jose, Calif., was third at 12%; Seattle and Boston rounded out the top five at 11% each. Phoenix had the slowest rent growth during this time at 2%.
Over the past 12 months, rents in Providence grew 15%, 10th on the list, the report said. Miami grew the most over the year at 21%. Orlando, Fla., was second at 20%, San Diego was third at 19%, New York was fourth at 18% and Tucson, Ariz., was 17%. Minneapolis experienced the slowest rent growth year over year at 4%.
Since March 2020, rents in Providence grew 35%, the seventh highest in the U.S., the report said. Rochester, N.Y., grew the most at 45%. Tampa, Fla., was second at 44%, Tucson, Ariz., was third at 40%, Riverside, Calif., was fourth at 38%, and Miami was fifth at 47%. San Francisco had no rent growth during the pandemic.
