Small Apartment Markets with Nation-Leading Rent Hikes

A handful of small coastal apartment markets rank alongside the nation’s largest metros for nation-leading change in monthly rents in the past five years. All of these smaller markets have an existing unit base of between 28,900 units and 53,400 units, according to September data from RealPage Market Analytics. While Miami saw the nation’s largest increase since 2018, with prices growing $874, the small Naples apartment market – located a few hours away on Florida’s Gulf Coast – logged almost as much growth at $870. This market also ranked #2 for percentage growth, with a five-year increase of 64.2%. Only Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR-MO saw a faster growth pace during that time, but that translated to a much softer increase of $455. Cape Coral was the other small Florida market on the list, with five-year rent growth of $739. Two small California markets – Santa Maria and Oxnard – logged price increases of $739 to $859. Santa Maria’s growth was very close to San Diego’s upturn of $856 while Oxnard’s pace matched that of nearby Anaheim. The final small market to see nation-leading rent growth in the past five years was Trenton, NJ, where rents are now $765 more than they were five years ago. In comparison, operators in New York raised prices by $837 in that time frame.