U.S. Apartment Rent Growth Turns Negative for September

U.S. multifamily advertised rents fell $6 to an average of $1,750 in September in the worst one-month drop since November 2022 and the worst September decline since 2009, Yardi Matrix reported. The September results follow flat rent growth in August and “tepid” gains in July.

September also represented a 30-basis-point decline in annual growth to 0.6%. The firm reported that the poor performance comes as demand shows signs of weakening, while high-supply markets have a glut of properties in lease-up.

“Rents remain close to all-time highs, so while it is too soon to say September is the start of a trend, the drop could signal emerging market softness,” according to the September 2025 National Multifamily Report.

Coastal and Midwest metros recorded the highest rent growth, led by New York (4.8% year-over-year), Chicago (3.9%), the Twin Cities (3.4%), San Francisco (3.3%) and Philadelphia (2.9%). Conversely, rent growth remains negative in many high-supply metros, led by Denver (-4.3%), Austin (-4.0%), Phoenix (-3.3%), Las Vegas (-2.0%) and Dallas (-1.9%).

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About Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 16-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 30-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 7-10 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).

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