Apartment hunting this fall? Don’t sign a lease before asking for this

The useful part

Rent has fallen for the 37th consecutive month, as more landlords offer concessions for renters The average rent is trending down across the country. According to a new report, rent has continued to fall for just over three years as of August 2026. That brings the average asking rent down 3.7%, or $65 less than where it sat in the summer of 2022.

How it works

• Studio rentals dropped by 1.2%, one-bedrooms went down 0.8%, and two-bedrooms fell by 0.9%.
• While rent is continuously falling across the board, the average asking rent remains higher than their pre-pandemic rates.
• Regardless, as mortgage rates recently climbed to the highest level in a year, lower monthly payments are a helpful perk for renters.
• Landlords are also allowing renters more concessions in order to get tenants into homes for less, such as waived application fees, rent credits, and even periods where no rent is due.

What to take from it

Overall, rent is still 15.4% higher than the August 2019 average.