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Employers of America experienced price relief in February as the national median asking rent fell to its lowest level in four years, while other metro areas saw significant declines.
An Realtor.com analysis found that the median asking rent for 0- to 2-bedroom properties in the 50 largest cities fell for the 30th month in a row, with the metric down $29, or 1.7%, compared to a year ago in February.
The median rent in those markets was $1,667 — down 5.1% from its summer 2022 peak but still 14.2% higher than its pre-pandemic level. All 50 metro areas analyzed in the report have median rents below their peak.
Realtor.com found that there were 15 markets that had median rents up at least 10% from their peaks as of February 2026, as renters in those metro areas have seen significant relief since the crisis.
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Austin, Texas, saw a significant drop in median asking rent compared to the peak of the pandemic, Realtor.com found. (Rick Kern/Getty Images)
The biggest drop in asking rent from the pandemic was in Austin, Texas, which saw it rental price down 18.2% from the top and 7.1% year-over-year.
Birmingham, Alabama, ranked second with a 17.1% drop from the peak, while median asking rent down 3.4% compared to last year.
The Memphis, Tennessee, metro area fell 16.1%, ranking as the third deepest, with rents down 3.8% from last year.
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Las Vegas was among the metro areas with a double-digit decline from its epidemic peak. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Other Sun Belt cities were among those that saw the biggest declines in median asking rents, with Phoenix, Arizonadown 15.6% from the top including a 4.4% decline from last year.
Atlanta down 15.2% in February from the market peak, prices are down 2% from last year.
Las Vegas had similar figures, with a 14.8% drop in average asking price from the top and 1.8% from last year.
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San Diego median rents were more than 10% below the pandemic peak in February. (Stock)
San Diego it also saw a significant drop in the average asking price for rent from the peak of the pandemic, down 14.3% from the peak and 3.7% from last year.
Five metro areas saw a modest decrease in median rent compared to the peak of the epidemic season.
The lowest metro area in February Virginia Beach, Virginiawhich is down just 1.7% from the peak – partly because average rents rose 4.5% last year.
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Kansas City is down 1.8% from its peak and saw its median rent increase 1% from last year, while Baltimore’s rental figure is down 2.4% from its peak and up 0.8% last year.
