Apartment Vacancy Hits Record High as Weak Labor Weighs on Demand
Rent prices are continuing to slide and the national vacancy rate is now at a record high as the market absorbs a wave of new units and contends with a weakening labor market, according to Apartment List’s latest report.
November marked the fourth straight month of rent declines, a trend expected to continue into early 2026 as the market moves through its traditional off-season. Apartment List anticipates additional modest drops in December and January. This year’s slowdown began early. Rent growth started tapering off in August, during peak moving season, for the third consecutive year.
The national median rent fell 1% in November to $1,367, a slightly steeper decline than the 0.8% dip recorded last year. Rents are now down 1.1% year-over-year, extending a more than two-year run of slightly negative movement. Since the 2022 peak, the national median has fallen 5.2%, or $75 per month, though rents remain 19% above January 2021 levels following the record-setting surge during 2021–2022.
Vacancy has climbed to 7.2% nationwide, the highest level ever recorded by Apartment List’s index. This reflects the tail end of a historic construction wave that saw more than 600,000 multifamily units delivered last year. Another 243,000 were completed in the first half of 2025 — down from late 2024 but still significantly above long-term norms.
“We’re past the peak of a multifamily construction surge, but a healthy supply of new units is still hitting the market and colliding with sluggish demand,” Apartment List said.
The labor market is also cooling, discouraging household formation and further softening rental demand. Units now take an average of 36 days to lease, two days longer than last November and double the 18-day pace seen during the summer of 2021.
Rents declined in 52 of the 54 largest metros on a month-over-month basis, and 29 posted annual declines. The sharpest drops are concentrated in the South and Mountain West, while parts of the Northeast, Midwest and West Coast continue to see modest annual increases.
Austin remains the softest individual major market, with the median rent down 6.8% year-over-year. Many of the metros seeing the largest declines, including Denver, Phoenix, San Antonio, Dallas and Orlando, are also among the nation’s busiest permitting markets, with nearly all located in the Sun Belt.
In contrast, the Providence, Rhode Island, metro leads the country in annual rent growth at 5.2%, fueled by strong demand from renters seeking a more affordable alternative to Boston and New York.
Source: GlobeSt/ALM