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A new report revealed that rent prices in Fresno are rising faster than any other in the entire state of California.
The report conducted by Apartment List shows that Fresno has had a 23.1% rent increase over the last 12 months.
The average rent increase for the state of California has been 11.6% and 15.1% for the U.S., according to KGPE.
The steady rise in rent can be attributed in part to an influx of people moving to the Central Valley during the pandemic, says Greg Terzakis from the California Apartment Association.
“Since so many companies have allowed work from home or made it a permanent policy, people have decided they’d rather move to a place where they can afford an apartment and not have to worry about how much of their paycheck is being spent on that apartment,” he told KGPE.
Home prices in Fresno are also up which affects the rental market.
According to Redfin, the median price for a home in the area is $350,000. Prices in September were up 12.9% compared to last year.
“People who were renting in anticipation of buying a home are still renting because the housing prices have gone up so much; the house they wanted to buy a year ago is 20% more than it was,” said Terzakis.
He believes the market will plateau soon but the only way to avoid more rent increases is to build more housing.