New apartment supply volumes and rent cuts in parts of the country rather than price increases have come together like a perfect storm to give the Midwest region a sizable lead in apartment growth performance, according to RealPage. 

In fact, effective asking rents in the Heartland were up 3.1% in the year-ending August 2023 with year-over-year net inventory growth in 2023 up 1.4%. Those numbers lagged a bit from the area's decade average, but it was significantly ahead of what's happening in other regions nationwide where annual rent cuts are occurring.

There's one additional exception. In the East, what is happening is also different than in most other regions nationwide where they are logging annual rent cuts. However, in the East, the growth is more moderate than in the Midwest at 2.5% and the Y-o-Y net inventory growth is up 1,2%. Again, it is because of an increase in completed apartments