Of the metro areas surveyed by Yardi Matrix, Sacramento was the only one to post double-digit gains in annual apartment rent increases. (Photo by Tom Myers)

SANTA BARBARA, CA—With the pace of apartment rental growth moderating in recent months, it stands to reason that eventually the average rent would begin ticking downward on a month-to-month basis. That began happening in September and continued with October, according to data compiled from 123 markets surveyed by Yardi Matrix.

October's average rent was $1,216 per month, a dip of $3 from the previous month. Although Yardi Matrix's latest monthly report, issued Tuesday, “relatively slight,” the decline in rents was the biggest drop in three years, since the average fell by $3 in October 2013. On a year-over-year basis, rents grew 4.4% nationwide in October, a 30-basis-point decline from September and a 230-bp fall from the recent high of 6.7%, in October 2015.

“The decline demonstrates a reversion to more 'normal' rent growth that we forecast at the beginning of the year,” according to the Yardi Matrix report. “Given the seasonal nature of apartment rents, the consistency of growth in recent years represents more of a historical outlier than the current moderation.”