Renters are getting a bit of relief as landlords offer more concessions — like free rent or waived fees — to fill units in a cooling market.
Rent growth has slowed to its weakest pace since 2020, according to Zillow data from March, which shows asking rents for U.S. apartments and homes were about $1,910, up 1.8% year over year.
Even though rents are still rising, increases have been outpaced by income growth, Zillow reports. That’s helped ease affordability pressures slightly, with the share of income the median household spends on rent falling from 29.4% to 26.5% for the year ending in March.
In many cases, that slowdown is showing up in the form of concessions: Nearly 40% of rental listings now offer concessions as landlords compete to fill units, according to Zillow. Those deals often include a free month’s rent, waived application or move-in fees, or perks like free parking.
“What we’re seeing right now is the result of a supply wave finally catching up to demand … creating more options for renters and forcing landlords to be more competitive,” says Senada Adžem, a luxury real estate agent at Douglas Elliman.
Why rents are cooling
Rental price growth is slowing as a wave of new apartments hits the market.
Multifamily construction — primarily apartment buildings — surged in recent years, with 608,000 units completed in 2024, the highest level since 1986, according to a 2025 analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data by the National Association of Home Builders.
That wave of new supply is still being absorbed by the market, giving renters more options and increasing competition among landlords, according to Zillow. At the same time, rental vacancy rates have risen from the unusually tight levels seen after the pandemic, leaving more units available and putting pressure on rents.
Some of the supply is coming from homeowners choosing to rent rather than sell and give up low 30-year mortgage rates, adding competition for traditional rentals, says Kara Ng, a senior economist at Zillow. Many homeowners locked in rates around 3% in 2021, compared with about 6.2% today.
“This additional supply is likely helping slow rent growth,” Ng says.
Not all rental markets are seeing relief
While rent concessions are up from year-ago levels in 30 of the 50 largest metro areas, not all cities are seeing the same relief, according to Zillow.
Markets like San Francisco and New York City remain tight, with rents in New York City up 4.2% year over year, per Zillow’s data. In Manhattan, “inventory is abysmal, and open houses are a chaotic mess, with at least 20 people vying for the same apartment,” says Abigail Godfrey, a New York-based real estate agent at Coldwell Banker Warburg.
But those conditions are the exception. In much of the U.S., more supply is leading landlords to offer concessions to attract tenants.
“The most common ones are a free month on a 12-month lease, plus waived application or move-in fees,” says Erik Leland, a real estate broker at Realty First in Oregon. Renters should feel comfortable negotiating for those concessions, including asking for the free month upfront or additional flexibility on timing, he says.
Building permits — a measure of future construction — have declined from their 2022 peak, suggesting fewer new units could come online in the years ahead, he says.
“If you are in a market with a lot of new inventory, there is an opportunity to lock in favorable terms now before the pipeline tightens again over the next 12 to 24 months,” says Adžem.
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