- The median U.S. asking rent dropped 1% year over year to $1,633 in May as elevated apartment supply gave renters room to negotiate.
- Asking rents fell fastest in Austin, down 9% to the lowest level since 2021.
- Rents hit a record high in four metros: Chicago, Cincinnati, Memphis and Washington, D.C.
The median U.S. asking rent fell 1% year over year in May to $1,633, which is $72 below the August 2022 record high. On a month-over-month basis, the median U.S. asking rent rose 0.5% in May—typical for this time of year.
Overall, 28 of the 44 major U.S. core-based statistical areas (CBSAs) Redfin analyzed saw asking rents decline last month—the highest number since September 2023.
“Apartment construction in America has been hovering near a 50-year high, and even though renter demand is strong, it’s not keeping pace with supply,” said Redfin Senior Economist Sheharyar Bokhari. “Many units are sitting vacant for months, which means renters have power to negotiate concessions and landlords have less leeway to keep rents high.”
Multifamily construction surged in the wake of the pandemic moving frenzy, and while it has started to taper off, it’s still at historically high levels. As it continues to slow, asking rents may rebound.
The rental vacancy rate for buildings with five or more units was 8.2% in the first quarter—the most recent period for which data is available. That’s tied with the prior quarter for the highest level since early 2021. Less than half of newly built apartments are getting rented out within three months—one of the lowest shares on record.
While asking rents are falling, they’re much less volatile than they were during the pandemic. May marked the 15th-straight month in which asking rents barely decreased or increased, with a year-over-year change of roughly 1% or less during each of those months. Those changes pale in comparison to the wild swings during the pandemic era, when asking rents jumped as much as 17.7% and fell as much as 4.1%.
Austin Asking Rents Drop to Four-Year Low as Building Spree Continues
In Austin, TX, the median asking rent dropped 8.8% year over year to $1,385 in May—the lowest level since February 2021 and $414 below the August 2023 record high. That’s the largest decline in percentage terms among the 44 major CBSAs Redfin analyzed. Next came Minneapolis (-6.3%), Columbus, OH (-3.5%), Nashville (-3.4%) and Portland, OR (-3.4%).
Austin granted permits to build 64.5 multifamily units for every 10,000 people from April 2024 to March 2025—a higher number than any other metro Redfin analyzed in a separate report. Columbus and Nashville also ranked in the top 10 when it came to multifamily permitting. Columbus’s 3.5% asking-rent decline marked the largest drop for that metro in records dating back to 2019.
With rents falling and homebuying costs rising in many U.S. cities, a lot of Americans are opting to keep renting.
“I’m not seeing many first-time homebuyers right now,” said Nicole Stewart, a Redfin Premier real estate agent in Boise, ID. “Rental rates here are still more manageable than saving up for a down payment and mortgage. People are finding rentals that are nicer than the house they could afford at the same monthly cost. That’s in part because a lot of home sellers are overpricing their properties as they struggle to adjust to the changing housing market.”
The typical U.S. homebuyer needs to earn over $50,000 more than the typical renter to afford monthly housing payments, and the gap has been widening due to high home prices and mortgages rates.
Asking Rents Hit Record High in Four U.S. Metros
In Cincinnati, the median asking rent rose 7.4% year over year to a record $1,460 in May—the largest increase among the 44 CBSAs Redfin analyzed. The second largest gain was in Tampa, FL (4.2%), followed by St. Louis (4%), Pittsburgh (3.5%) and Birmingham, AL (2.4%).
Aside from Cincinnati, three metros saw rents hit a record high in May: Chicago (up 1.9% Y/Y to $1,781), Memphis (1.9% to $1,274) and Washington, D.C. (2.4% to $2,104).
All metros in this section aside from Tampa and Washington D.C. are permitting less multifamily construction than the national average, which may be buoying rents.
Asking Rents Are Falling Fastest for Two Bedroom Apartments
The median asking rent for 0-1 bedroom apartments fell 0.7% year over year to $1,492. For 2 bedroom apartments, it decreased 1.8% to $1,704—the largest decline since February 2024. And for 3+ bedroom apartments, it fell 0.2% to $2,009—the smallest decline in about a year.
Metro-level summary: three months ending May 31, 2025
The table below includes 44 of the 50 most populous U.S. CBSAs—those for which Rent. and Redfin have sufficient rental data.
Methodology
Median asking rent figures in this report cover newly listed units in apartment buildings with five or more units. The median is calculated based on a rolling three-month period, i.e., the median asking rent for May 2025 covers rentals that were listed on Rent.com and Redfin.com during the three months ending May 31, 2025. Redfin’s rental records date back to 2019.
Metro-level data in this report cover 44 of the 50 most populous U.S. core-based statistical areas (CBSAs)—those for which Rent. and Redfin have sufficient rental data. The national figures are based on data for the entire U.S.
Asking rents reflect the current costs of new leases during each time period. In other words, the amount shown as the median asking rent is not the median of what all renters are paying, but the median asking price of apartments that were available for new renters during the report period.
https://www.redfin.com/news/rental-tracker-may-2025/
