Image courtesy of RMS Cos.

The Hartford area is currently seeing the nation’s biggest year-over-year multifamily rent jump, according to a new analysis by Zillow.

The company reported that, according to an analysis of listings data by its economists, asking rent for the typical apartment in Greater Hartford is up 8.3 percent.

Providence, with a 7 percent jump, Cleveland (6.5 percent up), Louisville (6.2 percent) and Richmond (5.1 percent) rounded out the five markets with the biggest increases.

Hartford’s typical rent is currently $1,779 per month, according to Zillow, and while the share of apartment listings that are offering concessions to tenants was up 950 basis points year-over-year in July – putting it at fourth place nation-wide – it had fallen 70 basis points between June and July.

In total, 23.3 percent of Greater Hartford listings are offering concessions to prospective tenants.

That picture contrasts with most of the nation’s biggest multifamily markets, particularly those in the South that saw a big construction boom coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. More than half of rental listings on Zillow are offering a concession in six major metro areas: Raleigh (53.3 percent), Charlotte (53.1 percent), Atlanta (52.2 percent), Salt Lake City (50.9 percent), Nashville (50.8 percent) and Austin (50.5 percent). And like Hartford, most of the metro areas that are seeing their shares of listings with concessions fall are older markets in the Midwest and Northeast, like Baltimore (-5.6 percent), Milwaukee (-1.8 percent) and Pittsburgh (-0.2 percent).

Almost 60,000 multifamily units were completed nationwide in June – the latest data available – which is more than in any month in half a century but likely close to the peak of the current supply boom.

“Builders have stepped up and built an incredible number of homes in response to soaring rents during the pandemic, and renters are now seeing the benefits,” Zillow Chief Economist Skylar Olsen said in a statement. “Now is a great time for renters to find a deal, with more new apartments hitting the market than at any time in the past several decades. Rents are still growing, but it’s a far cry from the steep rent hikes of two or three years ago, and renters will find sweeteners being offered by more than half of rentals in some places. A slowing job market and lower mortgage rates could mean falling rents if the current trends hold.”

The tightening central Connecticut apartment market comes as numerous large developers are planning new developments in areas like Hartford’s Bushnell South and Downtown North neighborhoods, along with office-to-residential conversions downtown, and as city officials there look to encourage more downtown living as a way to revitalize the city.