The August Rent report released by Zumper listed Washington D.C. as the fifth city in the U.S. with the most expensive rental rate.
For the month of August, Zumper's median rental rate of a one bedroom apartment in the District was at $2,150, reports Washington's Top News (wtop). The current median rental fee may be steep but experts mentioned that the rents will be rising even further. Matt Losak, local renter advocate and executive director of the Montgomery County Renters Alliance, said, "Even if you are getting a 5 or 10 percent rent increase, you might be able to survive for a year or two. But three or four years down the road you are seeing your rent almost double."
Losak also stated how recent rate hikes in the District has ranged from 5 percent to 10 percent. A few even increased 12 percent or even higher, said the Montgomery County Renters Alliance executive.
The wtop report also mentioned several areas around D.C. that also made it to Zumper's top 100 most expensive cities for renters. These areas includes cities in Maryland such as Chevy Chase, Bethesda, Rockville, Silver Spring and Camp Springs. The median one bedroom rental for these cities are at $1,850, $1,800, $1,790, $1,700 and $1,630, respectively. Meanwhile, the cities in Virginia with the most expensive rents includes Merrifield, Alexandria, Leesburg, Fairfax and Reston. The median rental fee for these areas were posted at $1,830, $1,770, $1,490, $1,420 and $1,400.
In related news, San Francisco topped the list of U.S. cities with the most expensive rent, according to the Zumper report. On average, a one bedroom apartment in San Francisco costs $3,500. Other cities who made it to the top five are New York and Boston, Massachusetts. Aside from San Francisco, three other California cities made it to the top ten. These cities are San Jose, Oakland and Los Angeles.