NEW YORK, NY — National apartment rents in August edged up 0.1% from July, according to Apartment List, marking the seventh straight monthly increase and the first time August rent growth has turned positive since 2022. The change was small, but it mattered because August has usually brought a slight dip as the market moved out of peak leasing season.
The national median monthly rent now stands at $1,390. That is still 0.8% below August 2025 levels, or $11 lower than a year earlier, but the year-over-year decline is getting smaller. Apartment List said that pattern suggests the rental market is beginning to stabilize after several years of falling rents.
What Apartment List Found
Apartment List said August was the first positive year-over-year August reading in four years and that the national vacancy index fell for a sixth straight month to 7.1%. Even so, the vacancy rate remains close to its recent February peak. The firm said the drop from that high is the first such decline since 2021.
The report also said rents hit their steepest decline in April of this year, when demand weakened amid economic uncertainty and worries about the job market. Chris Salviati, chief economist at Apartment List, wrote that the new figures show the rental market is “turning the corner” and that occupancy is reaching an inflection point alongside rent growth.
Why The Market Shifted
Apartment List pointed to a wave of new multifamily construction as a major reason rents softened in recent years. The company said the market absorbed more than 600,000 new units in 2024, the most since 1986. That added supply changed the usual rhythm of the rental year and helped keep vacancy elevated.
Salviati said the market had still been struggling to take in the flood of new inventory even as the construction boom was near its end. In his view, the combination of steadier occupancy and slightly firmer rent growth shows that pressure is easing. The report did not suggest every market is moving in the same direction.
Where Rents Move Next
The national figures do not look the same everywhere. Apartment List said year-over-year rent declines are concentrated in the South and Mountain West, while rents are higher than a year ago in the Northeast, Midwest and parts of the West Coast. That makes the national average only a starting point for tenants and landlords looking at local conditions.
The largest gains were in San Francisco and San Jose, California, along with Virginia Beach, Virginia, and Milwaukee. The biggest drops were in San Antonio, Las Vegas and Denver. Apartment List’s data can be checked in its monthly rent report, which tracks the national median, regional trends and vacancy changes over time.
More on what homes, rents and new builds are doing near you, on RHS Commoner.
