Baton Rouge apartment rent prices declining

Baton Rouge, amongst small market cities, had the nation’s fourth-slowest rent growth last month, according to an analysis released yesterday by RENTCafé.
Rent rose in 88% of the 252 surveyed cities last month compared to July 2017, while average rent for Baton Rouge was down 0.6%. Santa Maria, California, topped the list of slowest growth, dropping 5.3% year-over, according to the internet listing service.
Wesley Moore, an appraiser with Cook, Moore and Associates, says while he’s not familiar with RENTCafé, the analysis doesn’t surprise him, adding that Baton Rouge has become an overbuilt market for apartments.
“We’re in a time of transition,” Moore says. “We went from being a growing population and didn’t have a substantial amount of (apartment) construction for a few years, but we’ve picked up the slack.”
Rents have been flat in Baton Rouge since 2015 and as of April, more than 3,800 new apartments units were predicted to hit the local market by the end of 2018, An additional 2,300 units are slated for completion by 2020.
With more supply, apartment complexes have increasingly turned to offering concessions, such as a free month’s rent, to secure new tenants, which Moore expects to grow more profound as more units hit the market.
“It won’t just be in the student corridor, where I expect to be the most overbuilt, but also in suburban areas and Ascension Parish,” Moore says. “There’s still a lot of supply underway.”