Despite a year-over-year decline, apartment rents in Alexandria remain above the regional average, according to new data.
The overall median rental rate of $2,166 in the city was down 2.7% year-over-year in January, according to figures reported Jan. 28 by Apartment List. But it remained 2.3% above the median metro-area rate of $2,116 for the month.
Apartment List analysts said the median apartment rental rate citywide stood at $1,983 for one-bedroom units and $2,436 for two-bedroom units.
Alexandria’s year-over-year decline was steeper than that of the metro area as a whole (-1.8%) and neighboring Arlington (-1.6%). Virginia saw a 0.5% increase in median apartment rental rates year-over-year in January, while the national median rate declined 1.4%.
Median Alexandria rents dropped 2.7% from January to December 2025, the first annual decline since the 7% drop in 2020 as the Covid pandemic roared in.
The city’s median rental rate more than made up for that decline with a 15% growth rate in 2021. Increases were more moderate in subsequent years: 2% in 2022 and 4% in both 2023 and 2024.
Nationally, “the market is beginning to creep out of the off-season and will likely return to positive rent growth in the months ahead,” Apartment List analysts said in their January national report.
“This is in line with typical seasonal patterns,” they said.
But those seasonal patterns have shifted slightly since 2022, analysts said:
“Whereas May used to be the annual peak for rent growth, over the past three years March has been the hottest month, with rent growth slowing down during what were, prior to the pandemic, the months when prices would increase most quickly. The flip to negative rent growth is also coming earlier, with prices beginning to dip in August rather than September.”
Another firm that tracks apartment-rental rates — Zumper — believes a number of factors are giving renters more leverage as 2026 begins.
“The U.S. rental market is largely frozen right now, caught between elevated economic uncertainty and the normal seasonal slowdown we see in the winter months,” said Anthemos Georgiades, Zumper’s CEO.
He added:
“While new supply deliveries are set to ease in 2026, any rebound in rents is unlikely to be uniform. Markets that have already worked through excess inventory may see a faster snapback than what national averages suggest. The spring leasing season will offer a clearer signal of where the market is headed.”
According to Apartment List, units are taking an average of 41 days to get leased after being listed, four days longer than a year before and the highest figure since records began being kept in 2019.
Photo via Mason at Van Dorn/Facebook.
