Fresno is now one of the hardest places to find an apartment in the nation, new report shows

After decades of famously cheap rent, the Fresno metropolitan area now finds itself among the hardest places to find a rental home in the United States.

Specifically, Fresno is the ninth most competitive rental market in the nation, according to a new report from Forbes.

The report details hard challenges ahead for prospective renters across the county and in Fresno who used to look at the area as a reliable source of affordable rentals.

“With one of the highest percentages of renters, Fresno’s metro area is the only California market to make it to the top 10 for competitive rental markets,” the report said. 

The report comes on the heels of a five-year pandemic-era stretch that saw Fresno-area rental prices skyrocket. In 2019, fair market rent in Fresno was around $769 per month, HUD data shows. Now that same rental home goes for about $1,157, a 50% increase that pencils out to nearly $400 more monthly.

Many residents have advocated for local rent control in an effort to slow climbing Fresno-area rental prices, but have found little support from City Hall.

The Fresno mayor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Forbes used data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Zillow for their report.  

The competitive nature of Fresno’s housing market was credited to the area’s low vacancy rate. Fresno has a rental vacancy rate of 2.9%, which ties it for sixth worst in the country overall with Columbia, South Carolina. The report also noted that the Fresno area had the 12th most significant decrease in rental vacancy rate from 2022 to 2023, where it dropped from 5.1% to 2.9%. 

Data from the Census Bureau also shows that Fresno’s vacancy rate is lower than the state (4.4%) and national (6.6%) vacancy rate. 

The report also found that the Fresno area also has the fifth-highest percentage of renters compared to homeowners at 81.9%. 

Forbes surveyed 2,000 renters in the country to see why they choose to rent, and almost half responded that they cannot afford to buy a home.

Renters said challenges include finding a home in a desirable location that fits their budget and also noted that the cost of moving can be prohibitive.

And renters don’t have many options. The 2023 data from the Census Bureau show that of the 145,000 housing units across the country, less than a third are rentals. House rentals make up only 2.2% of the national vacancy rate of 10.1%.

The Forbes report found that there are now only 240 available rental units for every 100,000 households.

California housing markets were among the 25 most competitive rental markets including Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario. Sacramento-Roseville-Arden, San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara and the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim areas. 

All of the 25 least competitive rental markets in the U.S. are outside of California.

Update:

Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer reached out to Fresnoland through email to say that he does not agree with the methodology of Forbes’ report. The mayor also said that the data does not align with his understanding of the city’s rental market.

“The City has invested in first-time homeownership programs, rehabilitation programs to preserve naturally occurring affordable housing, subsidized a variety of affordable housing developments, purchased motels, supported developments for low-income homeownership, and invested in an incentive program with the local housing authority for better utilization of their existing rental vouchers,” Dyer said. “We will continue to find innovative ways to plan for and accelerate the development of housing in our neighborhoods.”