U.S. Apartment Rents Slip Downward in September; Annual Growth Gains Traction

U.S. apartment rents were slightly negative in September 2026, with the national average falling -0.08% to $1,752 from August’s upwardly revised $1,753, CoStar Group’s Apartments.com reported. The slight decline ended nine consecutive months of positive to flat rent increases following a period of flat to declining monthly performance in the second half of 2025 and early 2026. On an annual basis, rent growth accelerated to +1.5% in September 2026 from +1.3% in August and was up measurably from the +1.0% reading a year ago.

Although apartment rent growth typically slows in the fall leasing season, the -0.08% month-over-month decline recorded in September continues the recent pattern of fall rent decreases. However, this year’s pullback was considerably milder than the declines of 0.2% reported in both September 2024 and September 2025, possibly suggesting improvement in pricing conditions. Annual rent growth continues to trend higher, though elevated supply levels remain a constraint on pricing momentum nationally.

Regional rent growth was uniformly down in September. Monthly declines were most pronounced in the Mountain region with a -0.3% decrease, according to Apartments.com.