Apartment rents not rising fast?

Excerpt of story that appeared recently in the Wall St Journal below*. A mountain of new rental units and concerns about the job market are keeping rent appreciation low. Some additional context.

BTW...I like to keep things colorful!

Current Growth Rates:

Single-family rental home rents increased just 1.4% in August 2025 compared to the year before, down from 2.3% annual growth in July and much lower than the 3% average gain seen in 2024 CNBC. This marks the smallest increase in 15 years CNBC.

For multifamily apartments, the average advertised asking rent grew only 0.7% year-over-year as of July 2025 Multi-Housing News, and apartment rent prices nationally were down 0.8% in September compared with the year before CNBC.

Why the Slowdown:

The moderation is primarily due to record-high apartment deliveries and mounting supply in many markets Multi-Housing News. Cities like Dallas and Austin have seen particularly weak growth (or even declines) due to a surge of new multifamily units coming online.

Market Context:

Rent growth has fallen below the lower end of the 10-year average range of pre-pandemic growth CNBC. However, it's important to note that rents remain 22% higher than their January 2021 level CNBC, so while growth has slowed, the cumulative effect of previous rapid increases keeps absolute rent levels elevated.

Regional Variation:

Not all markets are cooling equally. Chicago, Kansas City, Columbus, and Philadelphia continue to show stronger rent growth ranging from 3.2% to 5.5% Multi-Housing News, while Sun Belt cities with heavy construction activity are seeing the weakest performance.

*Renters across much of the U.S. have enjoyed easing prices and months of free rent this year. Now, this tenant-friendly environment looks poised to extend deep into next year, and perhaps beyond.

Apartment rents nationally are advancing at their slowest pace in years, thanks to the glut of new units that has taken longer than expected to absorb. More recently, job concerns among young people are posing a new threat to the rental market.

The U.S. unemployment rate for people aged 20 to 24 was 9.2% in August, more than double the overall rate. If a weaker job market continues, it could lead more of these renters to seek roommates or move back with their family, rather than get their own place.

National rent prices edged slightly higher for part of this year, buoyed by price rises in the Northeast and Midwest where new supply has been limited. But last month, national average rent fell 0.3% from August, the steepest September drop in more than 15 years, according to data firm CoStar.

Landlords in many major metro areas are slashing prices. Those in the Sunbelt and Mountain West states are offering the deepest rent reductions, especially in cities like Austin, Denver and Phoenix.

Multifamily owners and analysts anticipated that 2025 would be the year that surplus supply balanced out and they regained their pricing power.

Instead, landlords are now betting on the ability to raise rents by the end of 2026, or at least sometime in 2027.

Even that might be wishful thinking. Analysts at data company Yardi Matrix recently lowered their projections for 2027 rent growth. They expect “more tepid” growth that year because of more new apartments coming online than originally expected.