Apartment Rents Rise 1.7%, Led by San Francisco

The rent map has split down the middle: the Bay Area is sprinting, and much of Texas and Florida is still walking backward.

Apartment data firm RealPage said national same-store asking rents climbed 1.7% over 12 months as of October, its strongest annual reading since May 2023, HousingWire reported ^[1]. Apartments.com, a CoStar Group marketplace, put annual growth at 1.6% and the national average at $1,749 a month ^[2].

Where rents moved

• San Francisco rents rose 14.7%, San Jose 9.5% and Oakland 8.5%, all with occupancy near 97%, according to RealPage ^[1].
• In the Midwest, Milwaukee led with 4.2% growth, followed by Chicago at 3.3% ^[1].
• Houston rents fell 1.8% and Tampa dropped 1%, while San Antonio posted the steepest decline at 2.6% ^[1].
• Renters absorbed nearly 304,800 apartments in the year through the third quarter, while developers finished nearly 318,000 ^[1].

But the month tells a softer story. RealPage said rents fell 0.7% in October, the first monthly cut of 2026, and credited much of the annual gain to weak months dropping out of the comparison ^[1]. Apartments.com saw a 0.15% monthly dip, and Yardi Matrix reported a 0.1% monthly gain, HousingWire noted ^[2][1]. National occupancy slipped to 95%, down 20 basis points from September ^[1].

What it means for you

For a landlord, the national number matters less than the ZIP code. By our math, a 1.7% raise on the typical U.S. rent of $1,932 a month, as measured by Zillow, adds about $33 a month, or roughly $394 a year ^[1][3]. In San Francisco, the same math at 14.7% is a far bigger bump. Buying may still beat building: Camden Property Trust CEO Alex Jessett said the REIT bought an apartment property for about $370,000 a door when building it would have cost more than $600,000 ^[1].

Zoom out

New supply is shrinking. Completions over the past year were almost half the late-2024 peak, according to RealPage ^[1], which could give rents in oversupplied Sun Belt markets room to recover.