Rents going down, new study shows. Here's where apartments are (and aren't) getting cheaper

Over the past two years, the U.S. median rent rose 18%, but new data suggests that the cost to rent an apartment nationwide may be moderating.

Rents are down nearly 5% from November 2022, with January marking the fifth consecutive month of year-over-year single digit increases and the lowest yearly increase since June 2021, according to a report from Rent.com.

While rents rose 2.4% in January from a year earlier to $1,942, the national median was down about 2% from December.

Prices peaked in August 2022 at $2,053, after rising above $2,000 for the first time in May.

“Price slowdowns are being driven by broad trends across the rental industry, including increased vacancy rates, new inventory, a cooling housing market and demand that is below seasonal norms,” according to Joe Leckie, the report’s author.

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Where are rents going up?

At the state level, median rents were up on a monthly basis in over half of the markets. States in the South rose the most.

Four states — Colorado, Illinois, Missouri and Massachusetts — saw monthly declines greater than the national median.

More than 18% of state markets were down year-over-year.

Which states did rents go up year-over-year?

With relatively cheaper rents and high levels of inbound migration, the most significant yearly increases were mostly in Southern and Midwestern states. New York (15%) and New Hampshire (18%) were the only two Northeastern states among the ten fastest-growing markets.

1. Florida (+20%)

2. Mississippi (+18%)

3. New Hampshire (+18%)

4. South Dakota (+17%)

5. Arkansas (+16%)

6. Delaware (+16%)

7. New York (+15%)

8. North Dakota (+14%)

9. Tennessee (+13%)

10. Alabama (+12%)

Which states did rent go down year-over-year?

Eight states saw year-over-year price declines in January. Rents in Idaho fell for the fourth month in a row. Its 6% drop was the largest among all states in the study.

Arizona and Nevada took the next two spots with 3% and 2% drops, respectively. Massachusetts, Minnesota and Washington each registered decreases of less than 1% .

1. Idaho (-6%)

2. Arizona (-3%)

3. Nevada (-2%)

4. Virginia (-2%)

5. Colorado (-2%)

6. Massachusetts (-1%)

7. Minnesota (-0.4%)

8. Washington (-0.1%)

Metro areas that experienced the biggest increase in rent year-over-year

1. Raleigh-Cary, NC (+22%t)

2. Cleveland-Elyria, OH (+17%)

3. Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN (+15%)

4. Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC (+14%)

5. Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN (+10%)

6. Kansas City, MO (+9%)

7. Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN (+8%)

8. Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI (+8%)

9. Jacksonville, FL (+7%)

11. Providence-Warwick, RI-MA (+7%)

Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a housing and economy correspondent for USA TODAY.  You can follow her on Twitter @SwapnaVenugopal and sign up for our Daily Money newsletter here.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Apartment rents fall nationwide: Where are they going down the most?