Apartment rents continued their slide into the new year, as fresh supply still makes its way through the market, and landlords strive to gain pricing power over a struggling consumer.
The national median rent in January was $1,353, a drop of 1.4% compared with one year ago, according to Apartment List. This is now the fourth consecutive winter with a “pronounced” offseason dip, and 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.
The national vacancy rate was 7.3% in January, a record high on Apartment List’s index, which dates to 2017. Units are also taking an average of 41 days to get leased, four days more than in January 2025 and another high for the index.
“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,” wrote Chris Salviati, chief economist at Apartment List.
The record supply of new apartment units has peaked, but there is still a good amount coming through the pipeline. That is coming up against weaker demand because of a tighter job market and slower household formation.
