Austin metro area led the nation's largest cities in the decreasing rent in March, according to a Realtor.com report released today. Median rent for the Austin-Round Rock was $1,577, with 4.7 year-over-year drop, according to the home listings and data website.
The report looked at studio, 1-bedroom, and 2-bedroom units advertised on the site and includes apartments, condos, townhomes, and single-family homes in the nation's top 50 largest metropolitan areas.
Nationwide, rent declined in March for the eighth consecutive month, with year-over-year prices dropping by -0.3 percent across unit sizes, according to the report. It also notes that national median rent of $1,722 was only $36 less than it was at its peak in August 2022 and was $313 more than in March 2019, before the pandemic.
Following Austin on the list of cities with the largest year-over-year drop were Memphis (-4.4 percent), St. Louis (-4.0 percent), Atlanta (-3.7 percent), Miami (-3.6 percent), and Phoenix (-3.2 percent).
Top 10 markets with the largest yearly rent decline were almost all in the South or Southwest, with median price drops the study attributes primarily to an influx of new units. "Softer rents in the South are evidence that more supply helps tame rising costs," said Realtor.com's Danielle Hale.
