Authored by Rob Sabo via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The national median apartment rent shook off the seasonal winter chill and inched up by 0.4 percent in March from February to $1,363, Apartment List reported.

However, the median rent was down by 1.7 percent from March 2025, the largest annual decline since Apartment List began compiling records in 2017. By comparison, year-over-year growth peaked at 18 percent during the winter of 2021.

Rents are generally soft or stagnant during the late fall and winter months as renters tend to forgo moving plans when it's cold outside, but rates trend upward with warmer springtime and summer weather. The slight gain in March was the second consecutive monthly increase following a six-month span of declining rents, the Apartment List report said.

"This turn represents the market creeping out of the off-season, and we'll likely see continued increases in the months ahead as moving activity ramps up, in line with typical seasonal patterns," researchers at the organization wrote.