An “Apartment for Rent” sign hangs in front of an apartment building in San Francisco, California, on December 4, 2025.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
Apartment rents have fallen further in the new year as fresh supply continues to flood the market and landlords try to gain pricing power over a struggling consumer.
According to Apartment List, the national average rent was $1,353 in January, down 1.4% from a year ago. This is now the fourth consecutive winter of a “pronounced” off-season decline and is the largest annual decline since September 2023 and the lowest January rent since 2022. Rents are now 6.2% below their last peak in summer 2022.
The statewide vacancy rate was 7.3% in January, a record high on the Apartment List Index set in 2017. It also takes an average of 41 days for units to rent, four days more than in January 2025 and another high for the index.
“Early last year, it appeared that annual rental growth was on track to turn positive for the first time since mid-2023; however, that recovery stalled and reversed during a slow summer season that now stretched into winter,” wrote Chris Salviati, chief economist at Apartment List.
The record supply of new housing units has peaked, but there is still a significant amount coming into the pipeline. This is offset by weaker demand due to a tighter labor market and slower household formation.
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Locally, most annual declines occurred in the South and Mountain West regions. Markets in the Northeast, Midwest and parts of the West Coast continue to see rising rents despite the overall winter slowdown.
Austin, Texas, wins the dubious distinction of being the weakest rental market in the country, with average rent there down 6.3% compared to last year. New Orleans follows; San Antonio; Tucson, Ariz.; and Denver.
Virginia Beach, Virginia saw the strongest rental growth at 5%. This is followed by San Jose and San Francisco, California; Chicago; and Providence, Rhode Island.
“The construction wave that drove these conditions is easing, but whether or not market conditions change will now depend on rental demand, the outlook for which has become more uncertain due to weakness in the labor market and general economic uncertainty,” Salviati wrote.