Rents jump 30% in Sonoma County in 3 years

Rents are rising faster in Sonoma County than in any other metropolitan area in the United States, according to a new report that found the average apartment in the county now costs $1,579 a month to ?rent.

County apartment rents increased an average of 11.7 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, according to Real Answers, a Novato-based rent research firm formerly called RealFacts.

The greater San Francisco metro area, including Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Marin counties, ranked second, with rents jumping 11.5 percent in the past year to an average of $2,285 a month.

Denver ranked third among the 40 metro areas in the survey, its rents increasing 11.2 percent to $1,214. San Jose rents grew 10.5 percent to $2,369, the highest amount in the survey. And Vallejo-Fairfield ranked fifth with an increase of 8.7 percent and an average rent of $1,288.

While Sonoma County has seen rents soar 30 percent in three years, the city of San Francisco would rank “far and away higher” if considered alone rather than part of the greater metro area, said Real Answers spokesman Nick Grotjahn.

Indeed, Sonoma County and other outlying communities in the Bay Area are seeing higher rents partly because of the number of workers seeking relief from the high cost of living in San Francisco and the Silicon Valley.

“Rents have skyrocketed in the employment centers,” Grotjahn said. A worker can find much cheaper housing by commuting from Petaluma to San Francisco.

The county’s rents also are rising due to local hiring and to a lack of new rental units. While two new apartment complexes will open in Rohnert Park and Santa Rosa in the coming months, they will be the first built here since 2008.

Renters occupied 97.5 percent of the county’s apartments at the end of the third quarter, unchanged from a year ago. The rate essentially amounts to full occupancy, Grotjahn said.

The county’s third-quarter rents varied from $946 a month for a studio to $2,179 for a three bedroom/two bathroom apartment. The average two bedroom/two bath unit went for $1,839.

While California’s rental market is leading the nation, Real Answers reports rising rents in every major metro area in ?the U.S. And the company doesn’t expect rate hikes to ease until occupancy rates start to decline.

You can reach Staff Writer Robert Digitale at 521-5285 or robert.digitale@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @rdigit.