Apartment rents in U.S. hit average of $1,099 a month

Apartment rents in the U.S. grew at a quicker pace in the second quarter as tenant demand rose faster than the growing supply of multifamily properties.

Rents after any discounts such as a free month climbed 3.4 percent to an average of $1,099 a month from $1,064 a year earlier, New York-based property-research firm Reis Inc. said in its quarterly report. Effective rents had gained

3.2 percent in the first quarter.

A tight supply of homes for sale and an improving job market are allowing apartment landlords to raise rents, even as developers race to meet demand by adding more properties to the market. A total of 33,210 new apartment units were completed last quarter, up from 29,990 a year earlier, Reis said.

"Landlords continue to extract whatever rent increases they can out of their tenants," Ryan Severino, senior economist at Reis, wrote in the report.

Bloomberg News