736 Square Feet: DC Has Fourth Smallest Apartments in the Country

• Nov 28th 2018

by Nena Perry-Brown

Apartments across the country continue to shrink. 

A recent study from RENTCafé found a dynamic in the nationwide rental market akin to what most grocery shoppers have observed: people are paying more, but they are getting less.

The average size of a new apartment was 941 square feet this year, a 5 percent (or 52 square-foot) drop from apartment sizes in 2008. Meanwhile, rents have increased 28 percent over that time period.

Studio apartments shrunk the most during the last decade, dropping from 573 to 514 square feet. One bedrooms have also gotten smaller, going from 790 to 757 square feet, while two bedrooms have actually gotten a bit bigger, going from 1,132 to 1,138 square feet. 

Out of 100 cities nationwide with the largest rental markets, DC has the fourth-smallest apartments, with an average size of 736 square feet regardless of year built. Only Seattle, Manhattan and Chicago have smaller units. 

Interestingly, the average square footage of new apartments in DC has actually increased by 5 percent over the past decade, going from 829 to 868 square feet. Rent, meanwhile, has increased by 39 percent, from $1,545 to $2,143. The average studio in DC is 481 square feet, while the respective averages for one-and two-bedrooms are 721 and 990 square feet.

The data is sourced from the Yardi Matrix and only counts units in buildings with at least 50 units.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/dc-apartments-the-fourth-smallest-nationwide/14739.