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Fairfax County apartment hunters entered 2026 with more negotiating power, as median rents across five major corridors fell from both year-earlier levels and the record highs reached last spring and summer.
The discounts are substantial in some areas. January rents were generally $150 to $250 per month below their 2025 peaks, according to data released Jan. 28 by Apartment List.
Despite those declines, all five corridors remained more expensive than the D.C. metropolitan area’s January median rent of $2,116.
Year over year, median rents dropped 3.6% in Fair Oaks, 2.8% in Fairfax, 0.5% in Herndon, 1% in Reston and 1.4% in Tysons.
For one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments, respectively, median rents stood at:
- Fair Oaks: $2,112 and $2,361
- Fairfax: $1,846 and $2,113
- Herndon: $1,759 and $2,111
- Reston: $2,118 and $2,443
- Tysons: $2,317 and $2,778
Rents Retreat From Record Highs
Each corridor reached an all-time high in Apartment List’s data during the spring or summer of 2025.
Fair Oaks recorded a January 2026 median of $2,315 across units of all sizes, down from $2,542 in May 2025. Fairfax fell from a May peak of $2,364 to $2,198.
Herndon’s median declined from $2,283 in July to $2,137, while Reston dropped from $2,455 in June to $2,285. Tysons remained the most expensive of the five, but its median fell from $2,704 in July to $2,548 in January.
Across much of Fairfax County, rents reached their recent low point in late 2020 or early 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic before beginning a sustained recovery. In Tysons, the median for apartments of all sizes bottomed out at $2,082 in January 2021.
Spring Could Bring a Reversal
Winter is normally a slower period for rentals and home sales, with prices often softening as activity declines. Apartment List analysts expect rent growth to resume as the market emerges from its seasonal lull.
The timing of that cycle has changed since 2022. March, rather than May, has been the strongest month for rent growth during the past three years. Prices have also begun declining in August instead of September.
Zumper CEO Anthemos Georgiades said economic uncertainty and the usual winter slowdown have left the national rental market largely frozen. Although fewer newly built units are expected to enter the market in 2026, he said any rent rebound will likely vary by location. Markets that have already absorbed excess inventory could recover more quickly, with the spring leasing season providing a clearer signal.
For now, apartments are sitting available longer. Units are taking an average of 41 days to lease after being listed—four days longer than a year earlier and the highest figure recorded since tracking began in 2019.