The Best Time of Year to Rent an Apartment, From Our Rent Data

Rent goes up a little in most months, but how much it goes up depends a lot on the time of year. From October through January the typical increase runs about 0.2% to 0.3% a month, while April comes in around 1.6%.

So if you have any say over when you sign a lease, the winter months are the cheaper ones to sign in, since rent is still climbing then but at a much gentler pace.

The monthly numbers

The table below shows the typical change from one month to the next, and when we say month over month (MoM), we mean the change from the previous month rather than from the same month a year earlier (YoY).

On an $1,800 apartment, 0.2% works out to about $3.60 and 1.6% works out to about $28.80, which sounds like small money either way. But you have to remember that whatever rent you sign becomes the starting point that your next renewal gets calculated from.

Why spring is more expensive

Most people move in spring and summer, partly because that's when new jobs tend to start, and partly because school calendars push families to relocate between grades. Leases signed the previous spring come due around the same time too, so a whole year's worth of renters ends up shopping in a handful of months.

When a landlord is holding five applications for one unit, there's no reason to come down on price, and that's what the April figure is really measuring.

Why winter is slower

Far fewer people want to move when it's cold out or when the holidays are a week away, and an empty apartment still costs the owner roughly $60 a day on that same $1,800 rent. Landlords are more willing to hold the rent flat in those months, and some will throw in a free month or waive an application fee just to get a lease signed before the unit sits through the whole slow season.

Rent still rises in winter, just at the 0.2% to 0.3% pace the table shows, so the advantage is in how slowly the number moves.

So what should you do?

If your move date is flexible at all, aim to sign or renew somewhere between October and January.

And if your lease happens to end in April, it's worth asking the landlord about a nine-month or a fifteen-month term instead of another twelve, because either one shifts your next renewal into the quieter part of the year.

Adding the table up, April through July comes to 3.1%, while October through January comes to 1.0%.

Where this doesn't apply

These are national averages, so plenty of local markets won't match them. College towns run close to the reverse, emptying out in summer and filling up in August, and a city that has just finished a wave of new apartment construction can stay flat or even drift down in any month of the year.

Most moves aren't really optional either, since a job start date or a lease expiration usually decides the timing for you.

Check when your own lease ends before you plan around any of this.

This seasonal pattern comes from RentDataNow's analysis of the Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI).