Apartment rental rates across Fairfax County continue to rise, even as national costs are falling.
All seven county corridors tracked by Apartment List showed year-over-year increases in July, according to new data reported last Wednesday (July 30).
Based on Apartment List’s methodology, the county ranking was led by Tysons, which set a new record for the community with a median rental rate of $2,716 rental rate. That was up 2.8% from a year before and 29% from the start of 2021, when the region’s rental market bottomed out due to Covid.
Across 32 communities analyzed across the D.C. metro area, the median rental rate in Tysons trailed only Ashburn ($2,763) and was higher than Arlington ($2,642) when counting all rentals. Arlington had higher rents than Tysons for the one-bedroom ($2,488 vs. $2,470) and two-bedroom ($3,006 vs. $2,962) categories, while Merrifield/Mosaic had a slightly higher two-bedroom rate than in Tysons.
Elsewhere across Fairfax County, year-over-year rental costs all rose:
- Annandale: The median rental rate in July was $1,949 for a one-bedroom unit, $2,224 for two bedrooms, up 6.2%
- Centreville: Median rates were $2,125/$2,469, up 0.7%
- Fair Oaks: Rates were $2,312/$2,585, up 1.6%
- Herndon: Rates were $1,892/$2,270, up 2.3%
- Merrifield/Mosaic: Rates were $2,418/$2,972, up 2.1%
- Reston: Rates were $2,270/$2,404, up 4.5%
Across the D.C. region, the median overall rental rate in July was $2,207, up 0.5% year-over-year. Nationally, it was $1,402, down 0.8%
The decline nationally is due in part to an influx of new construction, giving renters more choices and forcing landlords to offer concessions.
Last year saw more than 600,000 new multifamily units hit the market, the most new supply that the U.S. has seen in a single year since 1986.
“As a result of all this new inventory, more vacant units are sitting on the market, meaning that property owners face more competition for renters and have less pricing leverage,” Apartment List analysts said.
New construction has been most prolific in Sun Belt communities, many of which have seen large price drops after major increases during the pandemic period.
Nationally, median apartment rent in the Apartment List analysis peaked in July 2022, dropping off since then by about 2.8%, or $40 per month.
“But that cooldown came following a period of record-setting rent growth, and the typical rent price remains 22 percent higher than its January 2021 level,” analysts said.
While the national median rental cost is down 0.8% year-over-year, it is up 0.5% across the Washington metro area and up 1.9% across Virginia.
Arlington is the only Northern Virginia jurisdiction tracked by Apartment List for its ranking of 100 major urban areas nationally. In July, it had the fifth highest overall median rental rate and was the most expensive locality outside California.
Leading the pack for July were Irvine ($3,055), San Francisco ($2,999), San Jose ($2,927) and Fremont ($2,795).
On the other end of the scale, the most affordable community among the 100 was Toledo, Ohio, where the median rental rate was $866.
