Fairfax County’s median apartment rents declined 0.8% year-over-year in September, as the rental market cools down for the second half of the year.
Median countywide rents were $2,052 for one-bedroom units, $2,377 for two bedrooms and $2,395 for all units, according to figures reported Sept. 29 by Apartment List.
The post-Covid rental market in Fairfax has returned to more cyclical norms, with median rents rising through the first half of each year before dropping during the second half. The market’s all-time monthly peak was June 2025, when Fairfax’s overall median rent stood at $2,472.
With the exception of Tysons, year-over-year trends were largely down in specific communities in Fairfax tracked by Apartment List:
- Annandale: Median rents were $1,894 for one-bedroom units, $2,161 for two bedrooms and $2,184 overall, down 5%
- Centreville: Median rents were $2,054/$2,386/$2,429, down 2.1%
- Fairfax City: Median rents were $1,918/$2,195/$2,284, down 1.7%
- Fair Oaks: Median rents were $2,179/$2,436/$2,389, down 3.1%
- Herndon: Median rents were $1,837/$2,204/$2,231, essentially unchanged
- Reston: Median rents were $2,215/$2,345/$2,389, down 1.1%
- Tysons: Median rents were $2,413/$2,893/$2,653, up 1.6%
Among Fairfax’s neighbors, Arlington recorded an overall median rent of $2,610, up 0.2% from a year before, and Alexandria saw a median $2,193, down 1.9%, according to Apartment List data.
Across the D.C. metro area, the median rent of $2,171 in September was down 0.6% year over year.
Among 100 large urban areas watched by Apartment List analysts, the four most pricey localities for September all were in California: San Francisco, with a median rental cost of $3,878; San Jose, $3,154; Irvine, $3,132; and Fremont, $2,986.
Fifth on the list was Arlington.
The most affordable communities among the 100 were Toledo ($916), Cleveland ($1,025) and Wichita ($1,029).
Nationally, the median apartment cost for September was $1,388, representing a slight decline.
“Rents are still down 0.4% compared to one year ago, but year-over-year rent growth has been steadily inching up and the vacancy rate is moving down, signaling a gradual tightening of rental market conditions,” Apartment List analysts said.
According to the analysts:
“In recent years, the shift into the off-season has happened earlier than normal amid soft market conditions, beginning in August in each of the past three years. 2026 bucked that trend and is the first year since 2022 that we saw positive rent growth in August. And even though rents have now dipped in September, that decline was notably more subdued than what we have seen not just in recent years, but also than what we saw in the pre-pandemic years when the market was well-balanced.”
The national multifamily vacancy rate for apartments was 7% in September, continuing a decline after peaking earlier in the year but still elevated compared to historical norms.
Nationally, units are taking an average of 34 days to get leased after being listed, a bit longer than is typical for this time of year.
A second firm that analyzes apartment rental data, Zumper, reported that nationally, annual one- and two-bedroom prices were both positive in September — the first time that has happened in 16 months. The median price was $1,518 (+0.1%) for one-bedroom units and $1,903 (+0.5%) for two bedrooms.
In the Zumper National Rent Index, San Francisco’s one-bedroom rent climbed to an all-time high of $4,400, up 25.4% year-over-year, narrowing the gap with New York City ($4,580) to the tightest margin of the year, Zumper analysts reported.
There is no single dominant theme in the national rental market at the moment, Zumper CEO Shawn Mullahy said.
“There really isn’t one U.S. rental market right now,” he said. “Markets still absorbing the building boom are competing aggressively for renters, while markets that avoided it are tightening quickly.”
Virginia Beach posted the second-fastest rate of rent growth of any market in the country in September, trailing only San Francisco. One-bedroom rent is up 16.4% year-over-year to $1,770, and two-bedroom rent climbed 9.4% to $1,970.
Steady, well-funded demand from the region’s military bases, anchored by Naval Station Norfolk, has kept the market tight, Zumper analysts said.
Unlike the Sun Belt markets driving this month’s steepest declines, Virginia Beach never took on a major wave of new supply, analysts said. The market stayed relatively insulated from the national softness of the past few years; it posted positive rent growth through 2025 even as the national index was slipping, and that growth has only accelerated since.
