Sonoma County apartment rents have risen 2.6 percent in the last 12 months and the occupancy rate is nearly 96 percent, a real estate research company reported Thursday.
The average county rent in the third quarter rose to $1,213 a month, according to RealFacts, a Novato company specializing in the apartment market. That rent compares with $1,208 in the second quarter and $1,182 a year ago.
The rental market makes up a significant portion of the county’s 180,000 houses, apartments and condominiums. Nearly four in 10 housing units in the county are occupied by renters, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The average apartment rent from 47 U.S. metropolitan areas reached $1,118 in the third quarter, up 1.4 percent from a year earlier. The average occupancy rate was 95.4 percent.
Nationally the average rent has returned to its pre-recession peak from the third quarter of 2008, RealFacts reported.
— Robert Digitale