BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — For the first time in years, rental prices in Kern County seem to be flatlining.

“The prices have been inclining virtually every year for at last the last decade, at least. So this is the first time in a decade it’s really flattened out, or even gone down a little bit,” said Frank St. Clair, of St. Clair Realty.

Bakersfield ranks as the 70th most expensive city in which to rent however, the prices driving that number have stopped climbing for now. The price of a one bedroom unit in Bakersfield remained flat at $1,100 this month, while a two bedroom unit grew only 2.8% to $1,470.

St. Clair said he’s even had to run deals on housing in southwest Bakersfield to attract renters and stay competitive.

“In the last six months, it’s really flattened out. We had to run a lot of rent specials on our units, half-off first month’s rent, things like that. Even lower the rents on a few units. The last decade, we’ve been running a vacancy factor of 1.5-2%, and that’s now come up to 3-3.5%,” said St. Clair.

This comes after years of skyrocketing housing costs across California and Kern County is no exception in terms of rental prices.

“Over the last few years, they’ve climbed a lot. They’ve priced some people out of different areas or houses. Over the last probably 9 to 12 months, they’ve remained pretty flat. I would expect it to probably stay pretty steady, it may increase rent a little bit again. Once people start moving, once they get tax returns and schools out, all that stuff gets a little crazier,” said Boone.

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Ascend Realty Management manages and sells properties across Kern County. CEO Nic Boone says inflation, jobs, and the economy play a role, but interest rates are the main driver.

“A big factor is going to be interest rates. If interest rates get high, people can’t afford to buy because the payment is going to be significantly higher. If rates dip, more people buy, less people rent. If rates get higher, most people decide to rent, maybe wait for rates to come down, or they’re priced out of buying a house,” said Boone.

This stagnant trend won’t last forever, according to experts. Both St. Clair and Boone say it’s a prime time to rent.

While Kern County rental costs aren’t going down, they aren’t going up by much, either.

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