The cost to rent an apartment is increasing in some parts of Fairfax County, but declining in others.
Four of seven corridors of the county posted year-over-year drops in median rental prices in November, while the other three showed increases, according to new data from Apartment List.
Of those seven areas, Tysons continues to have the most expensive rental costs in the county, but it is a little less costly than it was a year ago.
Its median rental rate of $2,549 — $2,318 for one-bedroom units, $2,779 for two bedrooms — was down 1.6% from November 2024, according to figures.
In other areas included in the Apartment List survey:
- Annandale saw median rental rates of $1,956 for one-bedroom units and $2,231 for two bedrooms, up 7.5% from a year before
- Centreville recorded rates of $2,026/$2,354, down 1.8%
- Fair Oaks reported rates of $2,136/$2,388, down 1.9%
- Fairfax clocked in with rates of $1,880/$2,151, down 0.8%
- Herndon saw rates of $1,798/$2,158, up 2.1%
- Reston delivered rates of $2,167/$2,295, up 0.9%
Among nearby localities:
- In Arlington, the median rent was $2,398/$2,898, down 0.3%
- In Alexandria, the median rent was $1,996/$2,452, down 1.8%
Across the Washington region for the month, the median rental cost was $2,143.
In the monthly Apartment List survey of 100 large urban areas nationally, four California corridors were rated as most expensive: San Francisco ($3,065), Irvine ($3,056), San Jose ($2,884) and Fremont ($2,745).
At the bottom of the list was Toledo, where the median monthly rent for November was $901.
Nationally, the median rent for the month was $1,201 for one-bedroom units, $1,353 for two bedrooms and $1,367 overall.
Year-over-year rent growth has been slightly negative for over two full years, and the national median rent has now fallen from its 2022 peak by a total of 5.2%, Apartment List analysts said.
According to the analysts, November rents “fell in nearly every large metropolitan area across the country,” with prices dropping nationally by 1.1% from a year ago.
“Year-over-year rent growth has been slightly negative for over two full years, and the national median rent has now fallen from its 2022 peak by a total of 5.2%,” Apartment List analysts said.
On average, units are spending 36 days on the market before getting leased — a two-day increase from this time in 2024. Nationally, the vacancy rate for multifamily homes stayed flat in November at 7.2%, which is “a record high” for Apartment List’s index.
“We’re past the peak of a multifamily construction surge, but a healthy supply of new units are still hitting the market and colliding with sluggish demand, causing vacancies to continue trending up,” analysts said.
According to the data, the Austin metro currently has the softest conditions among the nation’s large rental markets, with the median rent there down by 6.8% over the past year in the November data.
At the other end of the spectrum, the Providence, Rhode Island, metro area had the largest year-over-year rent growth at 5.2%.
