Rent increases have slowed across the metro area and have even fallen in some areas, according to the apartment industry association Multifamily NW.

The group's spring survey of members found that the metro area still has rents rise 7.9 percent year-over-year. But the 3 percent increase in the past six months is the smallest the group has reported since 2015.

The average rent is now $1,116 for a one-bedroom apartment. The vacancy rate has climbed to 4 percent, up from 3.5 percent a year earlier.

The report comes as new construction has flooded the metro area, giving renters at the top end of the market plenty of options to which to choose. Newly constructed apartment buildings are offering more move-in bonuses, and their established high-end competitors are doing the same.

The report said rents fell 6 percent in Hillsboro and 4 percent in both Northwest Portland and Beaverton.

However, rents in inner Southeast Portland -- the area with the most properties out of those included in the survey -- were up 8.6 percent.

Other sources, such as the real estate website Zillow, have also reported a dramatic flattening in rental rates. That site reported in February that rents across the Portland metro area had climbed up just 2.8 percent over the course of a year.

Axiometrics, a data firm that tracks rents in large apartment properties, reported that rates rose just 3.4 percent in January compared with a year earlier.

Multifamily NW's report also comes as the organization is lobbying in Salem against efforts to lift Oregon's ban on rent control and require landlords to provide cause for evicting tenants.

Several of its members are also suing the city of Portland over a new policy that requires landlords to pay relocation costs to tenants that they evict without cause or whose rents they increase by 10 percent or more in a year.

-- Elliot Njus

enjus@oregonian.com

503-294-5034

@enjus