More evidence that the apartment boom is slowing?

For the first time in two years, the average national apartment rent fell on a month-to-month basis, according to the September 2019 apartment rent report by RENTCafe.

Sure, the dip from August of this year to September was a small one, with the national average monthly apartment rent falling from $1,472 to $1,471. But RENTCafe, citing research from Yardi Matrix, said that the month-to-month dip, slight as it is, coupled with one of the slower year-over-year increases might be evidence that the days of soaring monthly apartment rents are over.

The average monthly apartment rent in the United States did increase 3.2 percent on a year-over-year basis, rising from an average of $1,426 in September of last year to $1,471 during the same month this year. But RENTCafe says that this year-over-year increase is the slowest in 13 months.

RENTCafe said that apartment rents saw minor declines in more than half of the cities it analyzed this September. According to the September report, prices dropped in 59 percent of small cities and 56 percent of large ones. RENTCafe added that 42 percent of mid-sized cities saw their average monthly rents drop, too.