Apartment rent in Austin during 2018 grew an average of $57 a month, or 4.4 percent, to yield an average monthly rent of $1,361, according to RentCafe.
Nationwide, apartment rent grew about $42, or 3.1 percent, to $1,419, the report found. Los Angeles saw rents increase by 6.6 percent while Chicago saw rents bump up 4.9 percent. The average monthly rent in Los Angeles comes out to $2,461 while Chicago's average landed at $1,889. Small cities saw the most fluctuation, with double-digit growth in cities such as Midland and Odessa.
Around Texas, Dallas rents grew 2.7 percent, or about $31, to $1,182 and Houston saw rents grow 1.7 percent year-over-year, or about $18, to an average rent of $1,093 per month.
Large cities with the fastest-growing rents:
- Las Vegas: 7.9 percent growth
- Phoenix: 7.7 percent growth
- Los Angeles: 6.6 percent growth
- Jacksonville, Florida: 6.3 percent growth
- Nashville: 5.8 percent growth
Large cities with the slowest-growing rents:
- Queens, New York: 0.2 percent decline
- Baltimore: 1.1 percent growth
- Boston: 1.2 percent growth
- Houston: 1.7 percent growth
- Brooklyn: 1.7 percent growth
About 88 percent of large-scale apartments completed in the first half of the year in Austin fell in the luxury or high-end category, according to this 2018 report from RentCafe.