ApartmentAdvisor National Rent Report

1. Rent is down MoM and YoY nationally, despite the unusual uptick last month.
2. A tale of two cities: Las Vegas and Reno continue to see varied impacts of pandemic housing boom.
3. All but two states saw rent decreases for three-bedroom apartments.

National Overview: Rent prices have resumed their typical seasonal downturn.

Last month, our data indicated that rent has slightly risen — a departure from typical seasonal trends. However, in September, we saw national figures go back on track with our expectations in the fall. The national median asking rent price for a one-bedroom apartment decreased by 3.4%, from $1,600 to $1,545. There were similar MoM decreases across all bedroom types.

It's also important to note that, even when we saw the unexpected MoM increase last month, national median prices have still consistently been down YoY since April of this year. While many renters in the U.S. continue to struggle to find affordable housing options, the lower prices reflect a growing effort across the country to build more housing. The rental shortage and rapid rent price growth during the early years of the pandemic led to significantly more construction in the Sun Belt in particular, and today’s lower rent prices reflect the new supply.

Regional Deep Dive: Las Vegas and Reno, NV’s housing markets show two different sides of the pandemic migration coin.

It was a story that echoed in rental markets across the country in 2020: As pandemic precautions encouraged companies to adopt remote work, employees felt liberated to move out of expensive, cluttered cities into cheaper, more spacious secondary markets. One such migration occurred between California and Nevada, bringing tens of thousands of workers from Los Angeles into Las Vegas. The migration reached its height in 2021, leading to a spike in median rent prices (peaking at $1,427 for a one-bedroom apartment in February 2022). This demand made clear the need — and the opportunity — for more supply in Sin City: Between 2022 and 2024, Vegas saw a 12.9% increase in authorized housing units, the 6^th highest percentage in the nation. Now, renters are finally reaping the benefits. In September 2025, the asking rent price for a one-bedroom apartment in Las Vegas was the lowest it’s been in the last five years at $1,050 a month.

While Reno (Nevada’s second largest city) also saw growth as a result of this migration trend, its population has been increasing at a much slower rate. Construction also has been much less of a consistent priority in the city, with -24.4% less new housing units authorized in 2024 than in 2022. Unlike Vegas’s steep rent cliff, where prices increased and then dropped very suddenly, Reno saw much less severe price increases followed by much smaller decreases. Prices are on par with where they were three years ago during the migration boom, despite a period of cool down between 2023 and 2024. It’s likely they will continue steadily rising, as housing becomes more competitive and construction remains sparse.