Remember those escalating apartment rent numbers, some skyrocketing 40% in very popular cities? They're now in your rear-view mirror, as rent growth has dropped. The nationwide median rent fell 0.5% to $1,364, according to Apartment List's National Rent report. Annual rent growth is now at -1.2%, which translates to apartments being 1.2% less expensive now than they were a year ago. In recent years, the growth sometimes neared 18%, though it also climbed higher in selective markets.

The drop isn't just isolated but nationwide with rents falling month-over-month this month in 85 of the nation's 100 largest cities. Furthermore, prices are down year-over-year in 71 of those 100 markets. The prior rent surges were fueled by a huge shortage of available apartments in the years 2021 and 2022, with growth hitting a record 17.8% in 2021.

But now the scenario is the opposite, and a surging number of apartments coming online will make more vacancies available in coming months.  Early in the pandemic, vacancies rose as many hunkered down with family members due to job losses and the desire to shelter together as well as economic uncertainty. Then, the tight rental market fueled growth in both 2021 and 2022 as more renters competed for fewer vacant units. That's when the vacancy index shrank from 6.8% to 3.9% in a year. And now that the vacancy index has eased for almost two years, vacancies have increased for 23 months, hitting 6.4% in September.