WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - In welcome news for American renter families struggling with high housing costs, the national median rent has fallen to its lowest level since 2022.
According to new data, rents posted their sixth straight monthly decline in January, with the largest annual drop in more than two years - down 6.2 percent from their Biden-era peak.
The national median rent fell 0.2 percent in January, and now stands at $1,353, according to Apartment List National Rent Report. This marks the sixth consecutive winter with a pronounced off-season dip in rents.
Rent prices nationally are down 1.4 percent compared to one year ago.
The Austin, TX metro continues to have the softest conditions among the nation's large rental markets, with the median rent there down by 6.3 percent over the past year. At the other end of the spectrum, the Virginia Beach, VA metro now sits atop Apartment List's rankings of fastest year-over-year rent growth at +5 percent.
The White House published an article quoting news reports reflecting rental prices fall across the nation.
Denver rent is at its most affordable rate in at least 9 years, a new year-end Zillow report shows.
News outlets reported based on new data that Pittsburgh apartment rental prices dropped in 2025, rental prices dropped in Phoenix, San Diego rents dipped for first time since 2010, rent is getting cheaper in some Massachusetts communities, single family rents declined in Dayton, and L.A. rent prices dropped to four-year low.
CNBC reported that the sharpest declines in house rent occurred in fast-growing Sun Belt and interior Western metros with a surge in new housing supply in recent years.
Among the largest U.S. metro areas, rents are falling the most in Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, Texas; Denver-Aurora-Centennial, Colorado; Birmingham, Alabama; Jacksonville, Florida; Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, Arizona; San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, California; Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, Nevada; Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, Texas; Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, Florida; and San Antonio-New Braunfels, Texas.
'2026 is shaping up to be one of the more renter-friendly periods we've seen in a decade,' CNBC quoted real estate expert Michelle Griffith as saying.
'The progress reflects the early impacts of President Trump's comprehensive approach to housing - increasing supply, reducing bureaucratic barriers, and empowering builders to meet demand,' the White House said.
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