U.S. Rent Growth Turns Positive for First Time Since 2023

For the first time in more than three years, U.S. asking rents are higher than they were a year earlier, though only barely. Apartment List's November 2026 National Rent Report, published Oct. 28, puts the national median rent at $1,384 in October, 0.1% above October 2025.

The headline numbers

The change is tiny in dollar terms: Apartment List says the median is up about $1 from a year ago. Still, it ends a streak of annual declines that began in mid-2023. According to the report, annual growth bottomed at negative 1.6% in April 2026 and has climbed since then as renter demand filled vacant units. CRE Daily, which summarized the report, described the market as stabilizing but not yet tight.

From September to October, the median fell 0.3%, the second straight monthly decline. That is the normal fall slowdown, when fewer people move and landlords trim prices to fill units. Apartment List notes this year's seasonal dip is much milder than last October's 0.8% drop and slightly smaller than the 2017–2019 average of 0.4%. The company adds that rents are still essentially flat on the year and are still falling once inflation is taken into account. Rents are about 4%, or $58 a month, below their mid-2022 peak.

Vacancy, free rent and time on market

The national multifamily vacancy rate was 7.0% in October, down from a record 7.3% in February; Apartment List began tracking it in 2017. The company expects it will take time to return to the 2017–2019 average of 6.4%.

Signs of softness remain. In a new measure added to the report, Apartment List found that 32% of properties were offering concessions worth at least one month of free rent, four points above a year earlier. Units that were leased in October spent an average of 36 days on the market, the longest for any October since the company's tracking began in 2019.

Winners and losers by metro

Of the 55 metros with more than one million people, 45 saw rents fall from September, while 35 posted annual gains. The Sun Belt and Mountain West, which led the construction boom, are still seeing the biggest annual declines, but those declines are narrowing. San Antonio was down 3.8%, the sharpest among large metros. Austin is down 1.2%, compared with a 6.2% decline in 2025. Apartment List also names Denver, Phoenix, Tampa and Charlotte among markets with notable declines.

The Bay Area is the opposite. The San Francisco metro is up 13% from a year ago and San Jose up 9%, which Apartment List attributes to high-paying jobs tied to the artificial-intelligence boom; rents in the city of San Francisco itself are up 24%. We covered that divide earlier in San Francisco Rents Surge While Texas Metros Keep Falling.

What this means for renters

• Negotiating room is shrinking but still there. With about one in three properties offering concessions, ask about free weeks, waived fees or reduced deposits before signing, especially in Sun Belt metros.
• Expect smaller renewal bargains. As rents stabilize, landlords have less reason to discount renewals. Start the conversation early and compare against what comparable units are listed for.
• Winter can be a good time to shop. Seasonal softness means less competition for units from now through early spring.
• Know your local market. A flat national number hides large differences. If you live in a Bay Area, Northeast or Midwest metro, increases are more likely than in Austin or San Antonio.

Different data providers measure rents differently, and Apartment List's median is built from its own marketplace data, so other indexes may show different numbers. Our earlier look at falling vacancy and the latest Zillow rent report offer other views of the same recovery. To work out what a rent increase means for your budget, try our renter tools.