US rents are rising faster again as the apartment building boom fades

US median asking rent rose 2.3% last month to nearly $2,000, the biggest annual jump in more than a year, according to Zillow. The apartment building boom that held rents flat is fading, and multifamily construction permits are down 33% from July 2022.

Mischa Fisher, Zillow's chief economist, put it about as plainly as an economist will. "Overall, it's still a good time to be a renter," he said. "But it does look like the really, really, really good time window has been fading."

Our city-level data shows exactly where it's fading.

The cities that skipped the boom are running away

Every city at the top of that list is a place where building apartments is slow, expensive or politically difficult. San Francisco at 28.6% is running at more than twelve times the national rate.

Now the other end, where the builders are building.

Phoenix, Mesa, Austin, Tampa and Raleigh all permitted heavily during the boom, and all five are flat or falling while the coastal cities climb.

What changes for you at renewal

The national vacancy rate sits at 7.1%, historically high but ticking down for the first time since 2021, according to Apartment List. Its lead researcher, Rob Warnock, expects next summer to be worse. "The rent growth that comes with the next moving season, I think, is going to be greater than the one we had this year," he said.

There's a second force pushing on this, because with mortgage rates near 6.7% and home prices at highs, would-be buyers who can't buy keep renting, which adds demand to a market that's no longer adding much supply.

The renewal story in the Yahoo Finance piece is the practical lesson. A Dallas renter got a renewal offer taking his one-bedroom from about $1,840 to $2,200, a 20% jump. His landlord refused to negotiate at first. Then an identical unit one floor up listed at just over $2,000, and with that comparison in hand he settled at $2,014.

He still paid a 9% increase, and he cut roughly $186 a month off the ask by doing one thing: finding what the building was charging new tenants for the same apartment. That works because buildings routinely quote new leases below what they ask existing tenants, and it's the single most effective move a renter has right now.

Timing matters too, since renting is seasonal and demand peaks in summer. A lease ending in November gives you more room than one ending in July, which we broke down in the best month to sign a lease. Our guide to negotiating rent when you have leverage covers the rest of the playbook.

Sources

• Yahoo Finance, for the Zillow asking-rent figure, permit data, vacancy rate and interviews

• RentDataNow city rent data, anchored to the Zillow Observed Rent Index, June 2026