14 cities with deals on affordable apartments as rent slides alongside interest rates

Apartments may be easier to land following a competitive summer.littlenySTOCK/Shutterstock

• Apartment prices were slightly cheaper in September than in August as interest rates fell.
• Rent may continue to slide during the quieter months for moving.

Rent inched lower in September as the unofficial moving season starts to wind down, but apartment prices are still near all-time highs.

The going rate for an apartment in one of the 100 largest US cities fell ever so slightly this month, real-estate site Zumper found. One-bedroom units were just $1 cheaper than in August at $1,533, while two-bedroom places had a median price of $1,912, versus $1,915 last month.

And while apartment prices rose from September 2023, Zumper researchers noted in their new report that they were only up 1.5% and 2.5% for one- and two-bedroom fixtures, respectively.

Tenants might grumble about rents that are several hundred dollars more expensive than they were a few years ago, but prices broadly have soared since the pandemic — as have wages. It's also worth noting that those year-over-year price hikes are at or below the inflation rate.

Besides, even tiny improvements to rent are better than the modest monthly jumps that were common over the summer.

"September signaled a cooling off in the hot moving season as national one and two-bedroom rents both decreased on a monthly basis — a trend which we have not seen in the last five months," Zumper CEO Anthemos Georgiades said in a statement for the report. "This shift in the rental market aligns with the typical seasonal patterns we have finally returned to after the last few years of unconventional fluctuations."

Rent has drifted downward along with interest rates, which the Federal Reserve slashed for the first time since early 2020 in the first cut of its easing cycle. Lower mortgage rates make buying a home more affordable, which reduces competition for apartments — and brings down prices.

Nearly two-thirds of the nation's 100 biggest real-estate markets experienced either lower or flat rent in September, according to Zumper. However, only 14 cities have one-bedroom apartments that cost less than the national median of $1,533 and were at least 2% cheaper than last year.

Below are those 14 cities, along with their month-over-month and year-over-year rent changes, median rent prices, the monthly savings vs national median, and national rent ranking.