RealPage: U.S. apartment rents up 1.7% year over year in October, the largest annual gain since May 2023

Same-store effective asking rents rose 1.7% from a year earlier in October, the biggest annual increase since May 2023, though rents fell 0.7% from September in the first monthly decline of 2026, RealPage reported. RealPage attributed much of the annual gain to weak results a year ago dropping out of the comparison. Occupancy was 95%, and about 304,800 units were absorbed in the year through the third quarter against roughly 318,000 completions. San Francisco led with a 14.7% gain while San Antonio fell 2.6%, and Houston, Tampa, Charlotte and Denver were also negative.