The median monthly rent for a two-bedroom Arlington apartment exceeded $3,000 in July for the fourth consecutive month, despite falling slightly from the all-time record set in June.
The median July rental price for two-bedroom units in Arlington was $3,006, according to data that Apartment List released on Wednesday..
Though down from an all-time high of $3,014 recorded in June, this continued a string of $3,000-plus months that began in April. Arlington first broke the $3,000 mark in August 2024, before seasonal cooling caused a price retreat until the start of this spring.
July’s rate for two-bedroom units was up nearly 39% from February 2021, when the pandemic caused Arlington’s rental market to bottom out at $2,165.
The median July rent for one-bedroom apartments in Arlington was $2,488. The overall median, counting all unit sizes, was $2,642.
While down 0.3% month-over-month, the overall median rent was up 0.9% year-over-year. It compares to a D.C.-region median rental rate of $2,207 and a national median of $1,402.
In Apartment List’s ranking of 100 major urban areas nationally, Arlington for another month had the fifth highest overall median rental rate, and was the highest outside California.
Leading the pack for July were Irvine ($3,055), San Francisco ($2,999), San Jose ($2,927) and Fremont ($2,795).
On the other end of the scale, the most affordable community among the 100 was Toledo, Ohio, where the median rental rate was $866, based on Apartment List’s methodology.
Arlington’s one-bedroom and two-bedroom median rental rates for July were both higher than was recorded in both Ashburn and Tysons. But those two areas outpaced Arlington in overall rental rate, posting medians of $2,763 and $2,716, respectively.
Most likely, this is because of larger apartments taking up a greater percentage of the overall rental mix in those localities.
Rent growth nationally was flat in July, in part because of an influx of new construction giving renters more choices. Last year saw more than 600,000 new multifamily units hit the market, the most new supply in a single year since 1986.
“As a result of all this new inventory, more vacant units are sitting on the market, meaning that property owners face more competition for renters and have less pricing leverage,” Apartment List analysts said.
New construction has been most prolific in Sun Belt communities, many of which have seen large price drops after posting major increases during the pandemic.
In Arlington, there is some new construction. But property owners also have begun converting office buildings to residential use, adding to the housing stock while removing surplus commercial inventory.
Nationally, median apartment rent in the Apartment List survey peaked in July 2022, and is now off that high by about 2.8%, or $40 monthly.
“But that cooldown came following a period of record-setting rent growth, and the typical rent price remains 22% higher than its January 2021 level,” analysts said.
While the national median rental cost is down 0.8% year-over-year, it is up 0.5% across the Washington metro area and up 1.9% across Virginia.
