BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) \u2014 For the first time in years, rental prices in Kern County seem to be flatlining.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 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\u2019s really flattened out, or even gone down a little bit,\u201d said Frank St. Clair, of St. Clair Realty.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
St. Clair said he\u2019s even had to run deals on housing in southwest Bakersfield to attract renters and stay competitive.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the last six months, it\u2019s really flattened out. We had to run a lot of rent specials on our units, half-off first month\u2019s rent, things like that. Even lower the rents on a few units. The last decade, we\u2019ve been running a vacancy factor of 1.5-2%, and that\u2019s now come up to 3-3.5%,\u201d said St. Clair.<\/p>\n
This comes after years of skyrocketing housing costs across California and Kern County is no exception in terms of rental prices.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the last few years, they\u2019ve climbed a lot. They\u2019ve priced some people out of different areas or houses. Over the last probably 9 to 12 months, they\u2019ve 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,\u201d said Boone.<\/p>\n