Sarasota apartment rents rise 2% in March

Apartment rental rates rose 2% in March in Sarasota over the same month in 2016, a new report says.

Apartment List says the median rent for a Sarasota one-bedroom apartment stood at $1,280 last month, a 0.2% gain from February, while the median cost of a two-bedroom unit was $2,250 monthly. The median price means that half of all rents are lower, and half are higher.

The San Francisco-based company adds that throughout Florida, median rents are up 2.2% over the same month in 2016.

Rents in Tampa rose 3.5% and bumped up 1.6% in Naples, on a year-over-year basis based on March statistics. While rents rose in Tampa by 1% in March vs. February, they declined in Naples 0.6% during the same period.

The only major Gulf Coast submarket to experience a year-over-year decline was Bradenton, where rents fell 1.5%, to $1,050 and $1,500 monthly, a 0.7% drop from the month previous.

The largest Gulf Coast increases occurred in St. Petersburg and Fort Myers, where rents jumped 4.6% and 6.5%, respectively, against March 2016. In St. Petersburg, the median price for a one-bedroom unit was $980 last month, while a two-bedroom apartment carried a $1,320 price. Fort Myers' one-bedroom units rented for a median $950 in March, while a two-bedroom unit commanded median rent of $1,250.

Nationally, Apartment List says rents rose 0.4% in March, the third consecutive month that rates were up after flattening — or even somewhat declining — throughout much of 2016.