Apartment List Report: February Rent Index Jumps Most Since June 2019

The March Apartment List National Rent Report provides the clearest indication yet that rent prices are rebounding in markets across the country. The Apartment List national index increased by 0.7 percent over the past month, the largest monthly increase since the summer of 2019.

While there continues to be significant regional variation, it appears that the days of rents dropping in coastal markets appears to be coming to an end with cities like San Francisco and Seattle experiencing positive month-over-month growth for the first time since the start of the pandemic. Meanwhile, many mid-sized markets that had seen rents grow rapidly through the pandemic are demonstrating solid growth as well.

The national rent index grew up by 0.7 percent month-over-month, representing the second straight month of positive rent growth and the largest monthly increase since June 2019, when the market was in the middle of its summer boom. For comparison, in the previous three years, the average month-over-month rent growth in February was 0.3 percent. In other words, this month’s increase was more than double the prior-year average for this time of year. This is the second straight month that rent growth has outpaced the average of prior years. Year-over-year, rents are now down by 0.8 percent nationally, an increase from the 1.2 percent year-over-year decline that we reported last month.

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