Key facts
- RealPage said the annual gain came less from strong pricing than from weak months dropping out of the comparison.
- Renters absorbed nearly 304,800 conventional apartments in the year ending in Q3 2026, while developers completed nearly 318,000 units, RealPage said.
- Occupancy eased to 95%, down 20 basis points from September but up 40 basis points this year, per RealPage.
- Camden CEO Alex Jessett said two deals under contract fell through after the rate hike when sellers declined lower prices.
- Camden bought an asset at about $370,000 a door where building would have cost north of $600,000, Jessett said.
- Camden reported third-quarter funds from operations of $1.70 per diluted share and core FFO of $1.71, $0.02 above its guidance midpoint.
US same-store asking rents rose 1.7% from a year earlier in October, the biggest annual gain since May 2023, apartment data firm RealPage reported on November 11. RealPage said the gain came less from strong pricing than from weak months dropping out of the year-over-year calculation. On a monthly basis, RealPage showed rents fell 0.7% in October, the first monthly cut of 2026.
Other trackers showed the same annual drift with different monthly readings. Yardi Matrix reported rents up 0.1% in October and annual growth of 1.4%, which it called the strongest in more than three years. Apartments.com put annual growth at 1.6% even as rents slipped 0.15% for the month.
The national figure hides a wide gap between markets. Northern California took the top three spots among the 50 largest markets, RealPage said: San Francisco rose 14.7%, San Jose 9.5% and Oakland 8.5%, all running near 97% occupancy. Midwest metros filled much of the rest of the top 10, led by Milwaukee at 4.2%, Chicago at 3.3%, and Kansas City and Cleveland at 3.1% each. Detroit and St. Louis each gained 2.7%.
Most Sun Belt and Florida markets continued to decline. San Antonio had the deepest drop among big markets at 2.6%, and its 92.5% occupancy was the lowest of the 50 largest markets. Houston fell 1.8%, Tampa 1%, Charlotte 0.9% and Denver 0.8%. The South as a region returned to annual growth of 0.5%. Several Sun Belt markets turned positive: Jacksonville rose 2.6%, Raleigh 1.0%, Atlanta 0.8%, Austin and Miami 0.6% each, and Phoenix 0.4%.