Apartment rents continued their slide into the new year, according to a new report from Apartment List, with fresh supply still making its way through the market, and landlords seeking to gain pricing power over struggling consumers.
“Early last year, it appeared that annual rent growth was on track to flip positive for the first time since mid-2023; however, that rebound stalled out and reversed course during a slow summer moving season that has now dragged into the winter,” Chris Salviati, Chief Economist at Apartment List, wrote.
According to Apartment List, the national median rent in January was $1,353, a drop of 1.4% compared with one year ago. This is now the fourth consecutive winter with a “pronounced” offseason dip, and it is the largest annual drop since September 2023 and the lowest January rent since 2022.
Rents are now 6.2% lower than their last peak in the summer of 2022, Apartment List said. Apartment List is an AI-driven online rental marketplace and app with over 6 million units.
Vacancy Rate in January Reached Record High
Apartment List said the national vacancy rate was 7.3% in January, a record high on its index, which dates to 2017. Units are taking an average of 41 days to get leased, four days more than in January 2025 and another high for the index.
The record supply of new apartment units has peaked, Apartment List said, but there is still a good amount coming through the pipeline. Apartment List said that inventory is coming up against weaker demand because of a tighter job market and slower household formation.
Most of the annual declines are in the South and Mountain West regions, Apartment List said. Markets in the Northeast, Midwest, and parts of the West Coast are still seeing a rise in rents despite the general winter slowdown.
Austin, Texas, is the softest rental market in the nation, with the median rent there down 6.3% from the year before. It is followed by New Orleans, San Antonio, Tucson, Arizona, and Denver, Colorado.
Virginia Beach, Virginia, is seeing the fastest rent growth at 5%, and it is followed by San Jose and San Francisco, California; Chicago; and Providence, Rhode Island.
“The wave of construction that has been driving these conditions is waning, but whether or not market conditions shift will now depend on rental demand, whose outlook has grown shakier due to weakness in the labor market and general economic uncertainty,” Salviati wrote.
