Author: Multifamily News

The Seasonal Multifamily Leasing Pattern Has Shifted

The rental market tends to follow an established seasonal pattern. More people generally move during the spring and summer, and rent prices normally rise accordingly as multifamily operators increase rents in response to the spike in demand. During the fall and winter months we tend to see the opposite: less moving activity, and operators pulling back on rents to attract the dwindling set of renters still on the market for a new home.

This seasonality results from three practical factors: school, weather, and holidays. The summer is more favorable for all three: if you are a student or have young children, you don’t need to juggle school schedules; weather is generally more temperate; and moving expenses aren’t being eaten up by holiday spending. Renters who have the flexibility and means to relocate during the winter will generally find lower prices and more wiggle room for negotiating lease terms.

Over the past three years, we’ve seen a noticeable shift in the timing of this seasonality. Since 2022, rental activity is more evenly distributed throughout the calendar year, annual rent declines exceed annual rent increases, and peak rent growth has moved up earlier in the year. 

From 2017-2019, the typical seasonal pattern was this: nationwide rents would rise for seven months from February through August, with peak rent growth (+1.0 percent) occurring in May.

Since 2023, there has only been six months of rent growth each year, from February through July, with peak rent growth down to +0.6% and occurring two months earlier in March.

These shifts are due to a combination of factors including:

  1. The persistent impact of a one-time shock to the timing of moves due to the pandemic
  2. An intentional shift by multifamily operator to spread out lease renewal dates
  3. A supply rich environment offering renters more optionality and flexibility in their moves

Source: ApartmentList

Apartment Concessions Rise To 2008 Great Recession Levels

15.6% of stabilized apartments offered concessions in December, and the average December discount of 10.5% held essentially steady with October and November.

The October through December average sits at the highest discount depth since the post–Great Financial Crisis period (2010) and reflects ongoing efforts to absorb the elevated wave of new supply concentrated across the Sun Belt region. 

Class A units posted the deepest concession discount at 11.0%, followed closely by Class B (10.2%) and Class C (10.5%) units. However, Class C properties continued to show the highest usage, with 19.1% offering a discount in December. Concession usage in Class A and B stock was comparatively milder at roughly 13% to 14%. 

Source: RealPage

ApartmentList: The State Of Renting 2026 Report

Nearly half of renters (49%) say their income doesn’t allow them to save at all. 42% are choosing to stay in relationships—romantic or platonic—longer than they wanted because breaking up would mean breaking the bank.

When looking for a home, the top three non-negotiables among Gen Z and millennials are in-unit laundry (44%), pet-friendly policies (43%), and central AC (43%). They’re clearer than ever about what makes their day-to-day lives better, and refuse to pay extra for the rest.

Sixty-three percent of renters we surveyed own a pet, and nearly half say they’ll always have one. For many, their pet is their roommate. No matter how nice an apartment looks on paper, a “no-pet” policy is often a dealbreaker.

To save on rent, almost half of renters (48%) would consider moving to a different city, 45% to a different state, and 24% said they’d even move to a different country. Nearly a quarter of renters we surveyed said that finding a cheaper place to live is the single biggest factor driving their next move.

(56%) said they’d rent out their apartment on Airbnb for short-term stays to make extra income. For these renters, living in an Airbnb-friendly apartment can add more freedom and flexibility to their lifestyle, open up a new source of income, and make rent feel more manageable.

Source: ApartmentList

Builders Lose Appetite To Build Anything But Data Centers

From the Wall Street Journal: “Commercial Builders Are Losing Their Appetite to Build Anything but Data Centers“

Higher interest rates, steeper material prices and a tight labor force provide significant headwinds to new construction this year. Spending to build offices, hotels, apartment buildings and warehouses is projected to fall in 2026.

Data centers, sought by large tech companies to run artificial-intelligence platforms, are a bright spot. Spending on construction of data centers will rise by 23% in 2026.

Highlights From Apollo’s 2026 Housing Outlook

Most U.S. households cannot afford a home above $300,000:

The median age of first-time home buyers has increased from 30 in 2008 to 40 today:

The median age of all home buyers is now 59 years old, up from 31 in 1981:

Number of offers received per property sold:

The largest age group is around 33 years old. These used to be home buyers, but many have shifted to renters looking for a nicer rental property.

Homes sold per real estate agent:

US homes are getting smaller. Median size of new single-family homes declining:

Structural decline in the share of the US population moving to a new address:

Trend decline in the percentage of renters moving to new apartments or houses:

The average family size in the US has declined from 3.3 in 1960 to 2.5 by 2024:

Home price to rent ratio remains elevated:

Housing construction costs remain high:

Source: Apollo

Single-Family Rents Flat In 2025 After Years Of Large Gains

The Rentometer Single-Family Report focuses on median advertised rents for three-bedroom single-family homes, the most common single-family rental configuration – a sector that houses approximately 41% of the U.S. renter population.

After years of robust increases, rental growth slowed to a crawl in 2025. After climbing 7.8% in 2022 and nearly 3% in 2023, annual rent growth cooled to 2.4% in 2024 and fell below 0.25% in 2025, reflecting a market grappling with elevated vacancies, slowing demand and affordability pressures.

The median rent for a three-bedroom single-family home in the United States was $2,100 in 2025, remaining largely unchanged from the prior year.

Single-family vacancy rates reached 6.3% in early 2025, the highest level in nearly a decade.

A large wave of new apartment supply delivered over the past two years has provided a viable alternative for renters who might otherwise choose single-family homes, particularly those facing affordability pressures.

According to Zillow survey data, only about half of recent renters who moved out of a single-family detached rental transitioned into another single-family home, with the remainder shifting to apartments or other housing types.

Source: Rentometer

Zumper’s State Of Renting Report

Highlights from Zumper’s Annual State Of Renting Survey & Report:

  • About 60% renters now spend 40% of their income on rent. Renters paying more than 28% of their income on rent has long been the benchmark for what owners, renters and lenders consider unaffordable.
  • About 1 in 5 renters cite lowering the cost of living as one of the main drivers of a move this year, up from about 1 in 8 in 2021.
  • Due to rising costs, only 66% of renters see buying a home as part of their long-term plans, down from 73% in 2021 (they consider themselves “forever renters”)
  • The top five destinations renters relocated to in 2025 were: Los Angeles, Atlanta, New York City, San Francisco, and Charlotte showing that renters are moving to job-dense cities.
  • Only 12% of renters now work exclusively from home, half the rate seen during 2021-2023.
  • 63% of respondents report a commute time of 30 minutes or less, and commute was the third most cited reason for deciding where to live.
  • 82% of renters say they are unsure or not confident in the economy, and 66% believe the U.S. is currently in a recession. 
  • AI usage during the rental search has more than doubled, with nearly 10% of renters saying they used tools like ChatGPT, rising as high as 15% in major coastal cities.
  • The share of renters living with non-family, non-partner roommates continued its steady decline, dropping to 19% in 2025 from about 22% in 2022. This trend mirrors a broader cultural shift: singlehood in the U.S. has been rising for decades, reshaping household formation and what adulthood looks like for many Americans.
  • About 50% of renters are pet owners
  • Access to outdoor space has become increasingly important, with nearly 20% of renters naming it a top-three priority when choosing where to live, up from 16.5% in 2023.

Source: Zumper

Multifamily Demand Fell In Q4 Bringing Larger Than Expected Rent Declines

Apartment demand fell by 40,400 units in Q4 2025, bringing annual demand down to only 365,900 units. New supply also continued to decline, (89,400 in Q4 and 409,500 year-over-year), but it was not as rapid as the decline in demand.

Rent prices fell 1.7% in Q4. While it’s common for operators to cut rents in the slower leasing season, this latest decline was roughly twice as deep as the cuts the market has seen in 4th quarters during the past five years.

Over 23% of apartments were offering concessions as of Q4, and the average concession was 7%. As operators focus on filling units in the coming months, concession utilization could become even more prevalent, making true rent growth harder to realize until discounts burn off.

Source: RealPage