The national median rent hit $1,390 in August, posting its first monthly gain for that month since 2022 as vacancy falls
For the first time since 2022, the US rental market turned August positive. The national median monthly rent stood at $1,390 in August, according to Apartment List, up 0.1% from July.
The gain is modest, but it marked the seventh consecutive month of positive rent growth, and the first time August rents have moved higher since August 2022.
On a year-over-year basis, rents remain 0.8% below August 2025, with the national median still $11 lower than a year ago. But that annual gap is narrowing.
"In recent years, rents had dipped slightly in August, as the rental market's off-season shifted earlier in the year amid soft conditions," said Chris Salviati, chief economist at Apartment List.
"By bucking that trend, this month's data offer another sign that the rental market is turning the corner."
The year's sharpest rent declines arrived in April, when economic uncertainty and a softening job market pulled back household formation across the country. That demand contraction appears to have bottomed.
Vacancy drops as construction boom fades
Apartment List's vacancy index fell to 7.1% in August, its sixth consecutive monthly decline and the first sustained drop since 2021. The vacancy rate remains near its February 2026 peak, but the reversal carries weight — it marks the first such downtrend in five years.
The supply backdrop explains why recovery has taken this long. More than 600,000 new apartment units were delivered to market in 2024, the highest annual total since 1986, according to Apartment List.
"Despite being at the tail end of the construction boom, the market had still been struggling to absorb the swell of new inventory," Salviati said.
"That is now finally changing, as we see multifamily occupancy also hitting an inflection point in tandem with rent growth."
Sun Belt lags as coastal metros lead recovery
Not every market is recovering at the same pace. Rent declines measured year over year remain concentrated in the South and Mountain West — San Antonio, Las Vegas, and Denver posted the steepest annual drops nationally. Brokers in those regions continue to operate in conditions that favor renters.
The recovery is sharpest along the coasts. San Francisco and San Jose, California, led national rent gains, followed by Virginia Beach, Virginia, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
In the Northeast and Midwest, rents are running definitively higher year over year, a regional divergence that mortgage brokers advising clients on regional US housing market conditions will need to factor into their market-specific strategy.
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