 Apartment rents are shooting up here at a rate faster than other areas are seeing. Here's WTOP Business Reporter Jeff Claybaugh. Average rents in the D.C. area jumped three times the national average in just one month in June. Average apartment rents are now up more than 2% from a year ago, which might not sound like much, but it's pushed the average one bedroom to $2,300 and two bedrooms to an average of $2,400 a month.