The South now has about 3.5 times more new homes for sale than the Northeast and Midwest combined, a near record differential.

Source: Nick Gerli

Year-to-date apartment demand in 2026 is the third highest in history, behind only 2021 and 2024.

Apartment supply is leveling off (at nearly half the peak rates of earlier this decade), and demand now exceeds supply again, pushing down vacancy rates for the first time in nearly 5 years.

Rents are starting to slowly regain some momentum, and because of the Fed’s commitments to higher rates, it’s unlikely we’ll see apartment construction starts re-accelerate any time soon.

Source: Jay Parsons

Where are Americans moving, building and starting businesses right now?

LendingTree ranked the country’s largest metros using three categories: (1) people/housing (2) work/earnings and (3) business/economy.

Source: LendingTree

Why?

Wages had been outpacing inflation since early 2023, but that changed since the start of the war as inflation is now once again rising faster than earnings.

Source: Wall Street Journal

As of August 2026, the national median rent sits at $1,390, almost exactly where it would have been if rent growth since 2020 had remained on the slow and steady trajectory it had been on before the pandemic.

Since 2020, the rental market has whipplashed between skyrocketing rents and price declines, and those alternating hot and cold spells have now offset each other such that rent growth over the past six and half years as a whole averages out to an annual pace of 2.5 percent per year.

Source: ApartmentList

• 16% of multifamily investors reported decreasing their investments during Q3, the highest share since Q4 2024.
• Multifamily investors expect asset values to remain unchanged over the next 6 months (vs. higher prices in office, industrial and retail).
• 37% of multifamily investors said capital became harder to access versus the prior quarter, the highest share in over two years.
• Investors report that capital market conditions are tightening more in multifamily than any other sector.

John Burns and CRE Daily’s Fear & Greed index through Q3 2026:

• Cap rates currently average 6.1%, but investors say they would need cap rates around 6.9% to begin deploying capital aggressively.
• That 80-basis-point gap will keep transactions muted until it closes through lower prices, stronger NOI, or (least likely) cheaper debt.

Source: John Burns

Source: Jay Parsons