Multifamily Rent Growth Update: October 2026

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This analysis explores multifamily rent growth across the United States using the Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI). All rent figures are seasonally adjusted and smoothed. Data are through September 2026.

National Rent Growth Trends

The multifamily rent recovery is gaining ground, even as some of its summer momentum begins to fade.

National rents rose 2.4% year-over-year in September, up from 2.2% in August and 1.9% in July. Annual growth has now increased for six consecutive months after bottoming out at approximately 1.0% in March.

Rents increased 0.34% during September, equivalent to a 4.2% annualized pace. Monthly annualized growth has exceeded 3% in every month since May and held above 4% for each of the past three months.

However, monthly annualized growth has slipped in each of the past two months, from 4.60% in July to 4.53% in August and 4.15% in September. Growth remains strong, but some of the momentum built during the spring and early summer is starting to fade.

Fewer markets are seeing rents rise month-to-month. In September, 70.9% of US metros recorded rent increases, down from 73.7% in August and a recent peak of 75.7% in June. September marked the third consecutive monthly decline. Despite that pullback, monthly gains remain more widespread than in September 2025, when rents rose in 65.5% of markets. Participation still trails the pre-pandemic benchmark of 76.4%, the average from 2017 through 2019. Annual rent gains became less widespread as well. In September, 87.7% of metros posted year-over-year increases, down from 89.6% in August.

Metro-Level Performance

Northern California continues to lead annual rent growth, while several markets in the South and Mountain West still have rents below year-earlier levels. Of the 100 largest metros tracked in this report, 90 posted annual rent gains in September.

San Francisco remained the clear leader, with rents rising 12.7% year-over-year. San Jose followed at 8.9%, ahead of Boise City, Virginia Beach, and Toledo.

Top Five Markets for Annual Multifamily Rent Growth—September 2026

• San Francisco, CA: +12.7%

• San Jose, CA: +8.9%

• Boise City, ID: +8.2%

• Virginia Beach, VA: +8.1%

• Toledo, OH: +6.9%

At the other end of the rankings, San Antonio recorded the largest annual decline, followed by Cape Coral, North Port, Denver, and Houston.

Bottom Five Markets for Annual Multifamily Rent Growth—September 2026

• San Antonio, TX: −1.7%

• Cape Coral, FL: −1.5%

• North Port, FL: −1.3%

• Denver, CO: −0.8%

• Houston, TX: −0.5%

Seven of the 10 metros with annual rent declines recorded monthly gains in September: San Antonio, Cape Coral, North Port, Denver, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, and Tampa. Only Houston, Lakeland, and Deltona recorded declines on both measures.

Among the 100 largest metros, 91 recorded monthly rent increases in September. That is well above the 70.9% share for the full metro sample, with gains still more widespread among larger markets.

Nineteen of the 100 largest metros posted monthly gains above 0.5%, equivalent to an annualized pace of more than 6% if sustained. San Francisco again led the rankings, followed by Boise City, San Jose, Virginia Beach, and Grand Rapids.

Top Five Markets for Monthly Multifamily Rent Growth—September 2026

• San Francisco, CA: +1.5%

• Boise City, ID: +1.2%

• San Jose, CA: +1.1%

• Virginia Beach, VA: +1.0%

• Grand Rapids, MI: +0.9%

Bottom Five Markets for Monthly Multifamily Rent Growth—September 2026

• Akron, OH: −0.4%

• Baton Rouge, LA: −0.2%

• Little Rock, AR: −0.1%

• Omaha, NE: −0.1%

• Lakeland, FL: −0.1%

Rankings use unrounded growth rates.

Akron shows the opposite pattern: rents fell 0.4% in September, the largest monthly decline among the top 100 metros, but remained 4.1% higher than a year earlier.

Several Southeastern markets also stand out for their monthly strength. Rents rose 0.9% in Durham, 0.7% in Birmingham and Greenville, and 0.6% in Jackson, Mississippi, and Charleston—each comfortably above September’s 0.34% national increase. All five also posted annual gains. While parts of Texas and Florida continue to register year-over-year declines, these results show why the Sun Belt should not be treated as a single rental market: several Southeastern metros are posting gains well above the national pace.

The Bottom Line

The biggest positive in September’s report is the continued acceleration in annual rent growth. At 2.4%, growth has more than doubled from its early-spring low, with increases in each of the past six months.

The recent run of monthly gains points to further annual rent growth acceleration in the months ahead. Monthly growth has held above a 4% annualized pace for three months, still comfortably ahead of the current year-over-year rate.

However, a ceiling for rent gains is beginning to take shape. Monthly growth has slowed for two consecutive months, the share of markets with monthly gains has fallen for three, and the share with annual gains also slipped in September. Annual growth is still catching up to the recovery, but short-term momentum is showing its first signs of slowing.

Appendix: Data Table

Methodology note: Market-share calculations include metros with valid observations in both comparison periods and exclude markets with missing observations or unchanged rents from the denominator. The pre-pandemic benchmark is the simple average of monthly market shares from January 2017 through December 2019. Historical comparisons use the current Zillow data vintage.