Despite a year-over-year decline, Arlington’s apartment market in May retained its position as most expensive in the region and fifth most expensive urban area nationally.
The county’s median apartment-rental rate of $2,609 — $2,457 for one-bedroom units, $2,969 for two bedrooms — was down 1.4% year over year, according to figures reported May 28 by Apartment List.
The decline was in line with the national year-over-year drop of 1.5% to a median $1,379.
According to Apartment List analysts:
“Prices [nationally] peaked in mid-2022 after a year and a half of skyrocketing growth. Since then, the nationwide median rent has been gradually drifting down and has fallen from that peak by a total of 4.4%, or $63 per month. Despite the pullback in prices, today’s rent levels remain 20% higher than they were at the start of 2021.”
The analysts suggested cyclical norms will be back in play throughout the rest of the year:
“We are now entering the time of year when the bulk of moves take place, and as such, we’ll likely see continued price increases through the summer, in line with typical seasonal patterns. Prices generally increase in the spring and summer when most moves take place, and then soften in the fall and winter as moving activity slows.”
While down year-over-year, Arlington’s median May rental rate was up 3.4% since the start of January. That is slightly above the 3.2% growth rate over the first five months of 2025.
The county’s apartment market cratered in the early days of Covid, reaching a low point of $1,901 median rent in January 2021. Since then, rates are up more than 37%.
Arlington’s median rental rate again places the county as the fifth highest overall, and most expensive outside California, among the 100 urban areas tracked by Apartment List.
The only localities with higher median rents in the May data were San Francisco ($3,446), Irvine ($3,049), San Jose ($3,011) and Fremont ($2,886).
The lowest median rental rates for May were reported in Toledo ($894), Tucson ($1,030) and Wichita ($1,034).
The median rental cost throughout the Washington metro area for May was $2,161, according to Apartment List.
Nationally, the overall vacancy rate in multifamily housing ticked down slightly to 7.2% in May, the first monthly decline since late 2021. The time to lease a property declined from an average of 34 days in April to 30 days in May, but “remains elevated,” Apartment List analysts said.
Zumper ranks Arlington 7th priciest
Arlington retained its spot as the seventh most expensive urban area in the nation in a new Zumper apartment-rent survey.
With a median one-bedroom rental rate of $2,400, Arlington placed between Miami ($2,590) and Honolulu (2,300) in the survey.
Nationally, the one-bedroom rental cost of $1,519 was up 0.7% month-over-month, while two-bedroom rentals rose 0.4% to $1,903, according to the Zumper survey.
It represents a sign that “the spring thaw is here — leasing season is finally pulling prices up the way it historically has, after two unusually muted years,” Zumper analyst Crystal Chen said.
Among highlights from Zumper data reported May 28:
- New York City one-bedroom rent reached an all-time high, climbing 3.1% month-over-month to $4,680, the most expensive one-bedroom figure in Zumper’s decade-plus of data
- San Francisco keeps breaking its own records, with one-bedroom rent crossing $4,000 for the first time in city history and leading the nation in annual rent growth at over 21%
- Nearly every Texas market in the report posted declining annual one-bedroom rent, led by San Antonio at -10.4%
“National averages are masking two very different housing markets right now,” said Shawn Mullahy, CEO of Zumper.
“In supply-constrained coastal cities, pricing power has returned quickly. Across much of the Sun Belt, operators are still working through the inventory wave delivered over the last several years,” Mullaly said. “Demand is there, but supply still needs time to normalize.”
Apartments.com sees ‘subdued’ national market
A third monthly data report released May 28, by Apartments.com, showed the national market in May had its sixth consecutive month of month-over-month growth.
“Still, the broader picture suggests this year’s spring leasing season has been more subdued than is typical, as elevated supply levels continue to weigh on pricing power across much of the country,” Apartments.com analysts said.
National apartment rents rose 0.2% month over month in May to an average of $1,737 in its survey, while annual rent growth held relatively flat at 0.7%.
In the Apartments.com data:
- All five U.S. regions posted monthly rent increases in May, led by the Northeast and Pacific regions at +0.3% month over month
- Annual rent growth remained strongest in the Midwest at +2.0%, while rents declined year over year in the South (-0.8%) and Mountain region (-1.7%)
- San Francisco led major metros in annual rent growth at +8.4%, followed by San Jose at +4.9% and Norfolk at +4.4%
- Supply-heavy markets continued to face pressure, with Austin and San Antonio both posting annual rent declines of -3.3%, followed by Denver at -3.1%
Forty-three of the top 50 U.S. apartment markets recorded monthly rent increases in May, down slightly from 45 markets in April, according to Apartments.com’s data.
Apartments.com is a subsidiary of Arlington-based CoStar Group.
