While the past 18 months have ushered in an unprecedented sellers’ housing market nationwide, apartment rent rates have also followed the upward trend. Ashley Fahey and Ryan Mulligan covered the local impact for the Philadelphia Business Journal.

According to an analysis of RealPage data by The Business Journal, rents among 50 of the nation’s largest metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) increased by over 10 percent between 1Q2020 and 3Q2021.

Over the same period, Philadelphia apartment rents increased yet more than that.

The 11 percent jump put the City of Brotherly Love No. 32 out of the 50 MSAs in terms of apartment rental-rate growth since early 2020.

The average monthly rent for a Philadelphia apartment went up from $1,400 in the first quarter of last year to $1,554 in the third quarter of this year. The majority of this increase came during 2021, with a whopping 8.8 percent increase in the last two quarters.

Despite the increase, demand in the region remains high. Occupancy rates have steadily increased from 96.23 percent to 97.69 percent since the first quarter of last year.

Read more about rising apartment rent rates in the Philadelphia Business Journal.