Multifamily rents slipped again in October, with the average advertised rent decreasing $4 to $1,743. This is the third consecutive monthly decrease, with rents falling $9 since July, reversing the gains seen earlier in 2025. According to Yardi Matrix’s National Multifamily Report, the pullback in rents shows the effects of deteriorating consumer confidence, inflation, and a weakening labor market. Year-over-year growth was unchanged at 0.5%.
“With price pressures persisting, more renters may be forced to double up or move back home,” noted the report. “Labor market weakness is also weighing on multifamily demand.”
According to the report, only about 32% of the expected new jobs materialized in September. Major employers such as Amazon, Target, UPS, and Paramount, have announced layoffs. In addition, federal worker buyouts have led to about 100,000 departures with more expected to come, pressuring markets with large government workforces, such as Washington, D.C.
“Although too soon for alarm, apartment demand is showing cracks,” according to the report. “Absorption rates dropped sharply in recent months in Midwest metros such as Detroit, the Twin Cities, and Indianapolis and in Sun Belt markets, including Orlando, Florida; Nashville, Tennessee; Miami; Southwest Florida; and Dallas.”
However, the report stated that not all fundamentals are negative. With starts falling by nearly half since 2023, the high-supply Sun Belt and Western markets will have time to absorb units in lease-up—a period that is likely to last until growth returns.
Rent growth continues to be strongest in gateway and Midwest markets in October. New York continued to lead the way with 4.7% annual growth, followed by Chicago, 3.9%; San Francisco, 3.4%; and the Twin Cities, 2.9%. Negative rent growth continued to be seen in many Sun Belt and Western metros, with Austin, Texas, at -4.8%; Denver at -4.1%; Phoenix at -3.3%; Las Vegas at -1.7%; and Portland, Oregon, at -1.6%.
Rents at both lifestyle and renter-by-necessity assets were down month over month in October. Only two metros in Yardi Matrix’s Top 30—New Jersey and Detroit—saw positive advertised rent growth, while rents fell in 25.
On the single-family rental (SFR) side, advertised rents dropped $6 in October to $2,195, with unchanged year-over-year growth.
Rent growth is mixed depending on the market, with rents up year over year in 16 metros and down in 14. The Midwest led the gains in October, comprising seven of the top nine metros, with the Twin Cities and Chicago both at 7%. Metros with the weakest SFR rent performance included Austin, -4.2%; Jacksonville, Florida, -1.9%; Nashville, -1.3; and Dallas, -1%.