National asking rent growth printed at -0.2% YoY in March 2026, the first negative annual reading of the current cycle. The national average asking rent rose 0.2% month-over-month to $1,963, and a few signals beneath the headline are worth pulling apart: A++ properties continue to post positive growth, top-performing metros are running into the mid-single digits, and Sun Belt deliveries are showing early signs of moderating. The story this month is less about a uniform downturn and more about a market sorting itself into clear winners and laggards.
This report draws on REBA Benchmark data, sourced from 100% publicly available listings across 30 million multi-family units updated daily.
Quality Bifurcation Comes Into Focus
The clearest signal in the March data is the divergence across quality tiers. A++ properties posted +0.4% YoY asking rent growth, holding their ground as the only tier in positive territory. Class A came in at -0.4% YoY and Class B at -0.1%, with both tiers feeling the effects of new supply most acutely. The pattern is consistent with what we’d expect at this stage of the cycle: newer, well-located product is absorbing demand from renters with flexibility, while operators of older inventory are competing harder. Occupancy data tells a similar story. A++ and Class A held a narrow 95.3% to 95.4% band, while Class B settled at 94.2%, leaving 100+ bps gap between the top tiers and Class B.
Concessions and Effective Rent
Concessions came in at 3.3% of asking rent in March, up roughly 130 bps YoY. Effective rent growth registered -1.5% YoY, reflecting the gap between asking rents and net realized rents that operators in oversupplied metros have been navigating. The expectation is that concessions remain elevated through at least mid-2026.
Revenue per unit, which combines effective rent and occupancy, came in at -2.4% YoY for Class A, -1.7% for Class B, and -1.4% for A++. RPU is the metric that most directly reflects what owners are realizing on a per-unit basis, and watching it tier-by-tier is a useful way to see where pricing power is holding up.
Where Rents Are Growing
Northeast and Midwest metros continue to dominate the top of the leaderboard among the 50 largest markets, benefiting from disciplined supply pipelines relative to their Sun Belt and Mountain West peers. Virginia Beach leads the nation at +5.2% YoY, followed by San Jose (+3.5%) and San Francisco (+3.0%). Chicago (+2.6%) and Richmond (+2.3%) extended their run near the top of the rankings, with Hartford, Minneapolis, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Cleveland also posting positive growth.
Where Rent Growth Remains Weak
Sun Belt and Mountain West metros account for nearly all of the steepest YoY declines, reflecting the heavy delivery cycle these markets have absorbed over the past two years. Austin printed at -4.8% YoY, with Denver and Phoenix both at -4.2%. Tampa (-3.2%) and New Orleans (-2.9%) round out the bottom of the pack. The pace of supply tapering will be the key variable to watch through the back half of 2026 and into 2027. Construction starts have already pulled back meaningfully in most of these markets, which sets up a more constructive supply-demand picture as the existing pipeline finishes leasing.
Chicago: The Strongest Major Midwest Market
Chicago deserves a closer look this month. The MSA ranks #4 among the 50 largest markets at +2.6% YoY asking rent growth and is the strongest-performing Midwest metro. As with most metro-level averages, the headline number masks substantial neighborhood-level variation.
Growth is concentrated in downtown and near-north submarkets, where several areas are posting 8%+ year-over-year rent growth. Select western suburbs, including Wheaton and Bolingbrook, are also outperforming the metro average meaningfully. Parts of the south and west sides are seeing softer prints, reflecting the uneven demand recovery within the metro. Chicago is a useful reminder that metro-level averages can obscure as much as they reveal, and that the most actionable insights live at the submarket level.
This level of granularity, down to the zip code and floorplan, is available across all MSAs in the REBA Benchmark dataset. Read the full report here.
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