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Apartment rents remain cheaper than a year ago across most of Fairfax County, but February’s month-to-month increases suggest the seasonal reprieve may be ending as spring approaches.

Six of the seven Fairfax County communities included in Apartment List’s March report for the Washington, D.C., region recorded lower median asking rents in February than during the same month in 2025.

Centreville was the sole exception. Its rents rose 1.5% year over year, with median prices of $2,027 for a one-bedroom apartment, $2,355 for a two-bedroom and $2,398 across all units.

The other surveyed communities posted annual declines:

  • Annandale: $1,938 for one bedroom, $2,211 for two bedrooms and $2,235 overall, down 0.2%.
  • Fair Oaks: $2,138 for one bedroom, $2,390 for two bedrooms and $3,433 overall, down 3%.
  • Fairfax: $1,866 for one bedroom, $2,135 for two bedrooms and $2,222 overall, down 2.5%.
  • Herndon: $1,774 for one bedroom, $2,129 for two bedrooms and $2,155 overall, down 1.5%.
  • Reston: $2,124 for one bedroom, $2,249 for two bedrooms and $2,291 overall, down 0.7%.
  • Tysons: $2,232 for one bedroom, $2,782 for two bedrooms and $2,552 overall, down 2.2%.

Nearby jurisdictions followed the same pattern. Rents declined 1.7% in Arlington and 2.8% in Alexandria compared with the previous year.

The shorter-term trend, however, points upward. Every surveyed Fairfax community except Annandale saw rents rise between January and February 2026. Annandale’s median rate slipped 0.2% during the month.

Seasonal increases begin

Rent prices generally climb during spring and summer before falling in autumn and winter. Nationally, the median rent rose 0.2% from January to February, marking its first monthly increase since July.

Apartment List analysts said the market has continued to follow that seasonal cycle, though winter declines have become steeper and summer gains more modest amid a wave of new multifamily construction. They also noted that March, rather than May, has been the strongest month for rent growth during the past three years.

Despite February’s monthly increase, the national median of $1,357 was down 1.5%, or $20, from February 2025. Rents have fallen 5.9%, or $85 a month, since peaking in mid-2022, but remain 18% above their level at the beginning of 2021.

Virginia Beach recorded the fastest annual rent growth among 100 large urban areas tracked by Apartment List, rising 5.3%. Austin posted the steepest decline at 5.9% after experiencing rapid growth during the COVID era.

The national multifamily vacancy rate reached 7.4% in February, the highest level in nearly nine years of Apartment List data. Analysts said new apartments are still entering the market even though the construction surge has passed its peak, while weak demand continues to push vacancies higher.

Another survey finds similar cooling

Zumper’s February figures differed from Apartment List’s estimates but showed the same broad trend. Its national median was $1,499 for a one-bedroom apartment, down 1.7% from a year earlier, and $1,878 for a two-bedroom, down 1.4%.

Zumper said the unusually widespread rent reductions seen last summer and fall appeared to have mostly ended, with winter pricing returning to a more typical seasonal pattern.

New York City had the country’s highest median one-bedroom rent in Zumper’s survey at $4,250, down 1.8% year over year. San Francisco led for two-bedroom apartments at $5,120, a 21.3% increase from February 2025.

Zumper CEO Anthemos Georgiades attributed San Francisco’s rapid acceleration to AI-related job growth and a gradual return to office work, which have increased demand—particularly for larger apartments—while new housing supply remains limited.

At the lower end of the market, Wichita, Kansas, had the least expensive median one-bedroom rent at $720. Shreveport, Louisiana, had the lowest two-bedroom median at $890.

Among the 100 areas in Zumper’s analysis, 19 had median one-bedroom rents of $1,000 or less. Only Wichita, Shreveport and Akron, Ohio, offered median two-bedroom rents below $1,000, while 45 markets had two-bedroom medians of $1,500 or less.