In some Sunbelt metropolitan areas where construction is booming, increased supply is offsetting demand.
Due to her pregnancy, she lost her job and her family became homeless.
Jonica Jamison, her husband and children are homeless after losing their jobs after taking significant time off during a difficult pregnancy in Charlotte.
A construction boom over the past few years has increased the number of rental apartments across the country and lowered prices for some lucky tenants.
The national median asking rent in February 2026 was $1,357, down 1.5% from the same period last year. Rent prices were lower in February than last year in 57% of 216 metro areas, according to data from Apartment List.
Realtor.com’s February rental report, released March 17, showed similar trends, albeit with slightly different details. “National median rent prices have fallen for the 30th straight month, to the lowest level since March 2022,” Realtor economists said in a report.
It’s important to note that rents nationwide are more than 20% higher than they were in February 2019, before the pandemic distorted housing markets across the country. Additionally, as of February, 153 million people lived in metro areas where annual rents had decreased, while about 100 million people lived in areas where rents had increased, according to Apartment List data.
While national averages show that prices are stable, some metropolitan areas have seen large fluctuations. In some parts of the Sunbelt, rapid development has driven down prices. According to data from Apartment List, two Florida hotspots have seen the biggest declines since a year ago, with Austin in third place.
Meanwhile, Austin ranks No. 1 with the largest decline since its peak in the summer of 2022, according to the Realtor report.
Austin is one of the cities that has benefited from a development boom over the past few years. Researchers at Harvard University’s Joint Housing Research Center explained in their report, America’s Rental Housing 2026, that 608,000 multifamily units will be built in 2024, the highest annual number since 1986.
But falling rents are masking a much larger issue of affordability. Harvard University researchers wrote that half of all renters (22.7 million households) are “cost burdened,” meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities.
12.1 million Americans spend more than half of their income on rent and utilities, known as “severely cost burdened.”
