CATHERINE REAGOR

Metro Phoenix rents are rising in lots of strange places

Almost half of Valley renters saw monthly payments jump more than 9 percent in 2015; some areas had even bigger increases.

Catherine Reagor
The Republic | azcentral.com
A rendering of the Linear apartment complex.
  • Downtown Phoenix now has the highest apartment rents in the Valley.
  • The area around Sky Harbor Airport saw rents climb the fastest.
  • Valley home prices climbed 9 percent in 2015.

Ask just about anyone living in a metro Phoenix apartment, and they will tell you rents are rising.

Almost half of Valley renters saw their monthly payments jump by more than 9 percent in 2015. That’s from a new Rentcafe.com survey that breaks rents down by ZIP Code in the region.

The new data definitely shows some surprises about where Valley rents are climbing the fastest, For example:

  • The median rent in ZIP code 85034, the neighborhood surrounding Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport, shot up 21 percent last year. That’s the biggest increase in metro Phoenix. Light rail runs through the central area between Downtown Phoenix and Tempe.
  • South Scottsdale or the popular SoSco area in ZIP 85251 saw the second biggest jump in rents, about 20 percent. Not surprising because this area is very popular with students and Millennials.
  • Apartment rents climbed 20 percent in the posh enclave Paradise Valley, ZIP 85253. What’s interesting or even shocking here is the average rent in Paradise Valley is $1,300, lower than Downtown Phoenix’s  $1,399.
  • The South Phoenix neighborhood at the base of South Mountain, ZIP 85041, ranked No. 4 for the biggest rent increase – 17 percent. The area, with great views and a central locale, is drawing more new homebuyers and renters and firmly shaking off its blight of the 1980s.
  • Rounding out the top five metro Phoenix neighborhoods with the biggest rent increases is ZIP 85208 in Mesa. Known to some as the Skyline neighborhood, this affordable area draws retirees and families. 

Rents increases could ease this year since there are so many new apartments under construction. About 20,000 new apartment units are underway across metro Phoenix.

But renters weren’t the only ones in the Valley with housing cost increases last year. Homebuyers felt it, too. Phoenix’s median home price climbed 9 percent.

Now, what Valley renters and homebuyers need are similar increases in their incomes.

Click here to see a larger version of the map.