After two years of low to negative growth, Bay Area rents picked up steam in 2018, especially in the second half of the year, according to a quarterly survey of large apartment complexes by RealPage, a real estate analytics firm.
The average Bay Area asking rent grew 4 percent in the fourth quarter from the same period in 2017, its fastest pace in almost three years. But it’s still not close to the stratospheric rates that persisted from 2011 through 2015, when they often reached into the double digits.
Bay Area rents are expected to grow a little more slowly this year, thanks to an expected increase in new apartment completions.