May 2023 brought some unpleasant news for landlords and developers. For the first time in Realtor.com's data history, there was a year-over-year rent decline for 0-2 bedroom-units since numbers started to be tracked three years ago. The two-bedroom properties dropped 0.5% to $1,923, which was $10 lower than a year ago and $47 lower than at the July 2022 peak. 

Smaller apartment units, meanwhile, saw rents increase with studios going up 2% to $1,463 year-over-year and one-bedrooms climbing 0.4% to $1,628 over the same period.

When it comes to rent growth, the larger unit rents showed the highest growth rate over the last four years, up by $417 or 26%. For one-bedroom units on a YOY basis, the rent growth was 0.4% this past May. In contrast, rent growth for studios was 2.0%, indicating that renters have prioritized affordability with studios outperforming the larger two-bedroom units during the last 10 months.