(NEXSTAR) — After nearly two years of rising rent prices, there is finally a bit of good news for apartment shoppers.
A number of major U.S. cities saw the rental asking price fall in August, according to a report from Apartments.com, which is owned by real estate research group CoStar.
“After a 20-month run of positive monthly growth dating back to December 2020, the market finally witnessed negative asking rent growth on a monthly sequential basis from July to August, with rents down 0.1% in July,” said CoStar National Director of Multifamily Analytics Jay Lybik. “We’re seeing a complete reversal of market conditions in just 12 months, going from demand significantly outstripping available units to now new deliveries outpacing lackluster demand.”
In terms of percentages, Nashville led all big cities with a -1.1% decline, followed by Austin and San Francisco:
| City | Month Over Month Rent Growth in August, 2022 |
| Nashville | -1.1% |
| Austin | -1.0% |
| San Francisco | -0.9% |
| Las Vegas | -0.8% |
| Raleigh | -0.7% |
| Orlando | -0.7% |
| Denver | -0.6% |
| Seattle | -0.6% |
| Phoenix | -0.5% |
| Detroit | -0.5% |
| San Antonio | -0.5% |
| Charlotte | -0.4% |
| Boston | -0.4% |
| Tampa | -0.4% |
| Atlanta | -0.4% |
As for the biggest decrease in asking price when it comes to the dollar amount, San Francisco took the top spot with a $29 discount.
See the full list on the CoStar Group website.
The slight reprieve in the skyward march of rent prices wasn’t felt across the country, however. A number of cities such as Saint Louis, San Diego, Columbus, Cleveland, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles and Portland all saw percentage gains in rent cost.
Zooming out shows just how high rent prices have soared during the pandemic. Year over year rent growth in August was in the double digits for Orlando (12.8%), Miami (12.4%), Fort Lauderdale (11.1%), Charlotte (10.8%), Salt Lake City (10.5%), San Diego (10.4%) and Indianapolis (10.1%), according to CoStar. The national median asking rent price in August was $2,039, according to Redfin, up 11% year over year.
Still, the recent sagging growth in some cities could be a sign of future stabilization.
“Rent growth will likely slow further as the Federal Reserve continues to raise interest rates,” Redfin Deputy Chief Economist Taylor Marr said in a news release last week. “Higher interest rates impact the rental market because they put a damper on spending power in the economy as a whole, including renters’ budgets.”
Marr said rental prices will also slow thanks to an increase in newly-constructed units being built.
“There are nearly a million rental units under construction that will hit the market in the coming months and years,” Marr said.