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The Big Money Show discusses mortgage rates, property taxes and the struggle home sellers are facing.<\/p>\n
American renters got some price relief in February as the national median asking rent dipped to the lowest level in four years, with some metro areas seeing notable declines.<\/p>\n
An\u00a0analysis by Realtor.com found that the median asking rent for 0 to 2-bedroom properties in the 50 largest metro areas declined for the 30th consecutive month, with the metric falling $29, or 1.7%, compared to a year ago in February.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The median asking rent in those markets was $1,667 \u2013 down 5.1% from its peak in summer 2022 but still14.2% higher than its pre-pandemic level. All 50 metro areas analyzed in the report had median asking rents below their peak level.<\/p>\n
Realtor.com found that there were 15 markets that had median asking rents down at least 10% from their peaks as of February 2026, as renters in those metro areas have seen the most significant relief since the pandemic era.<\/p>\n
RENO SURPASSES LAS VEGAS AS TOP DESTINATION FOR CALIFORNIA HOMEBUYERS SEEKING AFFORDABILITY<\/p>\n
Austin, Texas, saw the largest decline in median asking rent compared with its pandemic peak, Realtor.com found. (Rick Kern\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The steepest decline in the median asking rent from the pandemic peak was in Austin, Texas, which had seen the\u00a0rental price decline 18.2% from its peak and 7.1% year over year.<\/p>\n
Birmingham, Alabama, ranked second with a 17.1% decline from the peak, while the\u00a0median asking rent was down 3.4% from a year ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Memphis, Tennessee, metro area has seen a 16.1% decline, which ranked as the third deepest, while the rent declined 3.8% from last year.<\/p>\n
MIAMI OVERTAKES LOS ANGELES AND NEW YORK AS WORLD’S RISKIEST HOUSING MARKET FOR BUBBLE RISK<\/p>\n
Las Vegas was among the metro areas with a double-digit decline from its pandemic peak. (Jakub Porzycki\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Other cities in the Sun Belt were among those that saw the largest decline in median asking rent, with\u00a0Phoenix, Arizona, down 15.6% from its peak including a 4.4% decrease from a year ago.<\/p>\n
Atlanta was down 15.2% in February from the market’s peak, with prices down 2% from last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Las Vegas had similar figures, with a 14.8% decline in the median asking price from its peak and 1.8% from a year ago.<\/p>\n
AMERICA’S 10 MOST EXPENSIVE ZIP CODES REVEALED<\/p>\n
San Diego’s median asking rent was over 10% below its pandemic peak in February. (iStock)<\/p>\n
San Diego has also seen a notable decline in the median asking rent from the pandemic peak, with it down 14.3% from its high and 3.7% from a year ago.<\/p>\n
Five metro areas have seen much more modest declines in the median asking rent when compared with the\u00a0pandemic-era peak.<\/p>\n
The metro area with the smallest decrease as of February was\u00a0Virginia Beach, Virginia, which was down just 1.7% from the peak \u2013 in part because the median rent rose 4.5% in the last year.<\/p>\n
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Kansas City was down 1.8% from the peak and had the median asking rent rise by 1% from a year ago, while Baltimore’s rental figure was down 2.4% from its peak and up 0.8% in the last year.<\/p>\n
#median #rent #hits #4year #February<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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