By Dawn Wotapka | The Wall Street Journal
Apartment landlords continued to push through higher rents in many cities in the fourth quarter, offering little relief for renters who have seen increases over the past few years.
Nationwide, landlords raised rents by an average of 0.8% to $1,083 a month in the quarter, according to a report to be released Tuesday by Reis Inc., REIS -0.05% a real-estate research firm. While that is below the previous quarter’s 1% increase, it is above the 0.6% gain seen in 2012’s final quarter. Rents climbed 3.2% for all of 2013.
The vacancy rate, meantime, fell to 4.1% in the fourth quarter from 4.6% in the year-earlier quarter, remaining well below the 8% peak at the end of 2009.
