Class B Rents Up in DC and Northern Virginia

• July 27, 2015
• 2 Comments

by UrbanTurf Staff

As the number of lower-wage jobs increased in the DC area over the last year, the rents for Class B apartments in the region have risen and the absorption level has skyrocketed.

Both high- and low-rise Class B buildings saw rent increases in the second quarter of 2015, rising 4.3 percent in DC and 2.3 percent in Northern Virginia, according to a report from Delta Associates. Rents in suburban Maryland dropped slightly.

However, the speed at which Class B apartments are being leased echoes our article from last week:

“[The increasing rents] were driven by the absorption of 2,684 Class B units over the last twelve months — almost nine times the five‐year average of 300 units per year,” the report read.

Here’s a look at average rents for high-rise Class B apartments in certain Delta-defined submarkets:

• Upper Northwest: $2,106 a month
• Mt. Vernon Square: $1,970 a month
• Bethesda/Chevy Chase: $2,005 a month
• Silver Spring: $1,671 a month
• South Arlington: $1,618 a month
• Falls Church/North Arlington: $2,071 a month
• Crystal City: $2,061 a month

Note: The rents are an average of studios, one and two-bedroom rental rates at new buildings in the DC area. Class A apartments are typically large buildings built after 1991, with full amenity packages. Class B buildings are generally older buildings that have been renovated and/or have more limited amenity packages.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/class_b_rents_up_in_dc_and_northern_virginia/10170

2 Comments

1. marsh225 said at 8:03 pm on Monday July 27, 2015:
   At best, it's a stretch connect lower-wage job growth with increases in Class B rents and absorbtion rates. According to the average rents in this article, a household would need to earn almost $79,000 to afford an apartment in Mt. Vernon Square and over $84,000 to afford an apartment in Upper Northwest. Both incomes are roughly 90% of Area Median Income for a household of two, not quite low-wage workers. On the other hand, low-wage jobs are paying such low wages that these rents are way out of reach.

1. R said at 9:32 pm on Monday July 27, 2015:
   this is such BS, this has got to be the worst rental market in the past 10-15 years I can think of. Who is raising rents? That's not true, in the legacy neighborhoods like Dupont, Adams Morgan/Kalorama, and Georgetown. The rentals are sitting 4-7 months on end. Owners are reducing the price to rent mostly because the greedy developers have and are over developing the former shitholes to the east of 18th st NW all the way to NE. Word to greedy develops the party is over, it's too late go to a different city. Their cheap glass construction is fooling the dimwit 20 year olds that are coming to town. In the meantime, when they get mugged and raped in these former shitholes they start rethinking the idea about of moving to the wild east.