Median rents in Sonoma County* crept up to $1,449 for a 1-bedroom apartment and $1,914 for a two-bedroom in December according to a recent report by the market analysis site Apartment List. This is just a tiny bump of 0.6% over last month but a significant decline of 2.2% over the same month last year.
Nationally, the rental market has been relatively stable. Over the past six months, rents have fallen by 1.1%, but according to Apartment List, that decline is consistent with the seasonal pattern witnessed in prior years.
In the Bay Area rents are beginning to balance out for San Francisco, which saw staggering rent declines that outpaced the nation. The median rent for San Francisco is down 27 percent over last year and while there are no signs of prices returning to pre-pandemic levels soon, Apartment List believes that we are “close to the bottom of the city’s price correction.”
Other rental market analysis sites are making their predictions for 2021. Apartment Guide forecasts six market trends for 2021. They forecast that rental prices will remain flat in the first half of 2021, consumers will invest in new homes instead of continuing to rent, leasing agents will continue to host virtual events, apartment seekers will not prioritize proximity to the workplace, demand for affordable housing will increase and new construction will face delays.
Only time will tell if these predictions will come true.
Click through our gallery above to see some of the listings in Sonoma County priced at or below the Sonoma County median.
*Derived from the analysis of Santa Rosa data, Sonoma County’s largest city.
