US median asking rent hits 4-year low in February | Fox Business

The Big Money Show discusses mortgage rates, property taxes and the struggle home sellers are facing. American rentersgot 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. Ananalysis by Realtor.comfound 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. The median asking rent in those markets was $1,667 – 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. 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. RENO SURPASSES LAS VEGAS AS TOP DESTINATION FOR CALIFORNIA HOMEBUYERS SEEKING AFFORDABILITY Austin, Texas, saw the largest decline in median asking rent compared with its pandemic peak, Realtor.com found.(Rick Kern/Getty Images) The steepest decline in the median asking rent from the pandemic peak was in Austin, Texas, which had seen therental pricedecline 18.2% from its peak and 7.1% year over year. Birmingham, Alabama, ranked second with a 17.1% decline from the peak, while themedian asking rentwas down 3.4% from a year ago. 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. MIAMI OVERTAKES LOS ANGELES AND NEW YORK AS WORLD'S RISKIEST HOUSING MARKET FOR BUBBLE RISK Las Vegas was among the metro areas with a double-digit decline from its pandemic peak.(Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images) Other cities in the Sun Belt were among those that saw the largest decline in median asking rent, withPhoenix, Arizona, down 15.6% from its peak including a 4.4% decrease from a year ago. Atlantawas down 15.2% in February from the market's peak, with prices down 2% from last year. Las Vegashad similar figures, with a 14.8% decline in the median asking price from its peak and 1.8% from a year ago. AMERICA'S 10 MOST EXPENSIVE ZIP CODES REVEALED San Diego's median asking rent was over 10% below its pandemic peak in February.(iStock) San Diegohas 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. Five metro areas have seen much more modest declines in the median asking rent when compared with thepandemic-era peak. The metro area with the smallest decrease as of February wasVirginia Beach, Virginia, which was down just 1.7% from the peak – in part because the median rent rose 4.5% in the last year. GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE 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.