National asking rent growth printed at -0.3% YoY in April 2026, a second straight negative annual reading. The national average asking rent rose 0.2% month-over-month to $1,967, 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 several net effective rent measures are showing early signs of firming. The story this month is less about a uniform downturn and more about a market sorting itself into clear winners and laggards, with tentative signs that supply pressure may be cresting.
This report draws on REBA Benchmark data, sourced from 100% publicly available listings across 30 million multi-family units updated daily.
The clearest signal in the April data is the divergence across quality tiers. A++ properties posted +0.5% YoY asking rent growth, holding their ground as the only tier in positive territory. Class A came in at -0.5% YoY and Class B at -0.3%, 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 band around 95.5% to 95.6%, while Class B settled at 94.3%, leaving a ~120 bps gap between the top tiers and Class B.
Concessions came in at 3.2% of asking rent in April, up roughly 115 bps YoY but down modestly month-over-month — the first such decline in four months and an early hint that concessions may be nearing a peak. Effective rent growth held at -1.5% YoY for a second straight month, reflecting the gap between asking rents and net realized rents that operators in oversupplied metros have been navigating, though sequential growth accelerated from +0.1% to +0.3%. The expectation is that concessions remain elevated through at least mid-2026.
Revenue per unit (RPU), which combines effective rent and occupancy, came in at -2.3% YoY for Class A, -1.6% for Class B, and -1.1% for A++, with declines narrowing across every tier and month-over-month growth turning sharply positive for the first time in months. 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.
Northeast and West Coast 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 +4.9% YoY, followed by San Jose (+3.6%) and San Francisco (+3.6%). Chicago (+2.5%) and Richmond (+2.2%) round out the top of the rankings, with Hartford, Minneapolis, Cincinnati, Kansas City, and Buffalo also posting positive growth.
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 -4.7% YoY, with Denver at -4.3% and Phoenix at -3.8%. Tampa (-3.1%) and San Antonio (-2.8%) 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.
Tampa deserves a closer look this month. The MSA ranks #47 among the 50 largest markets at -3.1% YoY asking rent growth, placing it firmly among the bottom performers. As with most metro-level averages, the headline number masks substantial neighborhood-level variation.
The weakest rent growth is concentrated in the urban core, with downtown Tampa and St. Petersburg posting the steepest declines as heavy new supply lands in the inner metro. By contrast, the eastern exurbs around Plant City buck the trend with positive growth, where the delivery pipeline has been lighter. Tampa 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 and below.
This level of granularity, down to the floorplan and submarket, is available across all MSAs in the REBA Benchmark dataset. Read the Full Report here.