Bakersfield’s rental market remains strong, despite agriculture and oilfield incomes being jeopardized by low oil prices and a lack of water.

Mark Thurston, who helps people buy and sell apartment buildings in the city, said rental prices increased roughly 2.3 percent late last year.

“We’re healthy, but we’re obviously a little bit on the low side compared to what the national firms are looking at,” he said on Tuesday.

There aren’t many vacancies in the city, either.

“From a landlord’s prospective, it has been a strong rental market,” he said. “We the city-wide vacancy rate is 3.3 percent, that’s really low.”

Real estate data firm Zillow says rental prices nationally were up 3.3 percent in December.

– Anthony Pollreisz