Alexandria’s apartment rental costs have cooled over the past year, but remain well above pandemic-era lows.
The city’s median apartment-rental rate in November was $1,996 for a one-bedroom unit, $2,452 for two bedrooms and $2,179 for all units, according to the monthly data analysis by Apartment List.
Figures were released Dec. 3.
In Alexandria, the median rental rates represented a decline of 1.4% month over month and 1.8% year over year. Both dips are in line with national trends, according to Apartment List analysts.
But current rates are up substantially from late 2020 and early 2021, when Alexandria rents bottomed out at a median of about $1,700 before beginning a rebound.
Among areas similar to Alexandria across Northern Virginia in November:
- In Tysons, the median rent was $2,318 for one-bedroom units, $2,779 for two bedrooms, down 1.6% year over year
- In Arlington, the median rent was $2,398/$2,898, down 0.3%
- In Reston, the median rent was $2,167/$2,295, up 0.9%
Across the Washington region for the month, the median rental cost was $2,143.
In the monthly Apartment List survey of 100 large urban areas nationally, four California corridors were rated as most expensive: San Francisco ($3,065), Irvine ($3,056), San Jose ($2,884) and Fremont ($2,745).
At the bottom of the list was Toledo, where the median monthly rent for November was $901.
Nationally, the median rent for the month was $1,201 for one-bedroom units, $1,353 for two bedrooms and $1,367 overall.
Year-over-year rent growth has been slightly negative for over two full years, and the national median rent has now fallen from its 2022 peak by a total of 5.2%, Apartment List analysts said.
Among points made by Apartment List analysts in the national report:
- November rents “fell in nearly every large metropolitan area across the country”
- “Rent prices nationally are down 1.1% compared to one year ago. Year-over-year rent growth has been slightly negative for over two full years, and the national median rent has now fallen from its 2022 peak by a total of 5.2%”
- “The national multifamily vacancy rate remains at 7.2% this month, a record high for our index. We’re past the peak of a multifamily construction surge, but a healthy supply of new units are still hitting the market and colliding with sluggish demand, causing vacancies to continue trending up”
- “Units are taking an average of 36 days to get leased after being listed, two days longer than at this time last year”
According to the data, the Austin metro currently has the softest conditions among the nation’s large rental markets, with the median rent there down by 6.8% over the past year in the November data.
At the other end of the spectrum, the Providence, R.I., metro area had the largest year-over-year rent growth at 5.2%.
