New call-to-action
High-rise commercial buildings

Sub Markets

Property Sectors

Topics

Atlanta & Southeast News In Your Inbox

Sign up for Connect emails to stay informed with CRE stories that are 150 words or less.

Atlanta & Southeast  + National  + Apartments  | 

AI Boom, Affordability Drive Rent Gains in a Handful of Apartment Markets

Even as September marked the 38th consecutive month of annual declines nationwide in apartment rents, two market cohorts are seeing rent gains, Realtor.com reported. The AI boom is spiking demand in the Bay Area, while affordably priced metro areas are reversing their annual declines.

The strongest rent growth is in the Bay Area, where the AI boom is drawing young professionals seeking employment opportunities. Median asking rent in San Jose rose 6.0% year over year to a new high of $3,565, while San Francisco rent increased 4.8% to $3,057, just $48 below its summer 2022 pandemic peak.

Elsewhere in the U.S., markets such as St. Louis, Minneapolis, Virginia Beach, Riverside and Las Vegas have shifted from rent price declines to price gains as renters seek more affordable options outside nearby high-cost markets. Both St. Louis and Minneapolis have drawn renters from Chicago, according to Realtor.com.

Nationally, the median asking rent fell 0.4% year-over-year, the slowest annual decline in three years.

Connect

Inside The Story

Realtor.com

About Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 19-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 35-plus years in business-to-business journalism. In this capacity, he oversees daily operations while also reporting on both local/regional markets and national trends, covering individual transactions across all property types, as well as delving into broader subject matter. He produces 11-15 daily news stories per day and works with the Connect team and clients to develop longer-form content, ranging from Q&As to thought-leadership pieces. Prior to joining Connect, Paul was Managing Editor for both Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at American Lawyer Media, where he oversaw operations at both publications while also producing daily news and feature-length articles. His tenure in B2B publishing stretches back into the print era, and he has served as Editor in Chief on four national trade publications. Since 1999, Paul has volunteered as the newsletter editor of passenger rail advocacy groups (one national, one local).

  • ◦Lease
  • ◦Economy
New call-to-action