April’s Apartment Rent Growth Hits Several Grim Milestones

Apartment rents rose 1.7% in April, which is the lowest increase since March 2021 and falls below the average rate of 2.8% for 2018 to 2019, according to Apartment List’s monthly report. Month over month, national rents increased by 0.5%. Growth continues its deceleration, in other words, and Apartment List says it is likely to decline even further in the months ahead. 

But perhaps what is most remarkable about last month’s rental trends was that the increase in prices was less than the typical April price change that occurred in pre-pandemic years. And Spring, lest we not forget is “ a time of year when [rent] growth is typically picking up steam.” April’s monthly growth represented a slight slowdown from the 0.6% increase we saw in March and marked the second slowest April rent growth of any year in the history of Apartment List’s rent estimates, which go back to 2017. Last month was ahead of only 2020, when prices fell in April amid the turmoil of the pandemic’s onset.