Apartments.com raises U.S. multifamily rentgrowth forecast
ARLINGTON, Va. – 6 August 2026 – U.S. multifamily vacancy has been reviseddownward, while rent growth projections have a stronger outlook, according to a newforecast from Apartments.com, an industry-leading online marketplace of CoStarGroup, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSGP).
National multifamily vacancy is estimated to increase to 8.2% by the end of this yearbefore easing to 8.1% at the end of 2027. Stabilized vacancy is expected to remain flatthrough the end of the year, before rising modestly in early 2027 as the marketcontinues to absorb excess inventory built up over the past two years.
Apartment rent growth is now expected to increase from 0.8% in the second quarter of2026 to 1.4% in the third quarter, an upward revision of 70 basis points from the previous forecast. The projected metric for the fourth quarter was also adjustedupward, from +0.5% to +1.9%.
“The near-term rent growth outlook reflects second-quarter rent trends slightlyexceeding expectations,” said Grant Montgomery, national director of multifamilyanalytics at CoStar Group. “The upward revision of second-half 2026 rent growth isdriven by stronger employment assumptions and the significant progress made in thefirst half of the year in absorbing the excess inventory accumulated across 2024 and2025, enabling market conditions to gradually tighten.”
“The risks to the forecast appear balanced,” said Montgomery. “Near-termemployment growth expectations have improved since last quarter, reducing concernsthat labor market weakness will significantly disrupt renter demand. However,elevated energy prices tied to ongoing conflict in the Middle East continue to erodehousehold spending power and present a downside risk to apartment demand. Longerterm, slower labor force growth could constrain employment gains and householdformation. Offsetting these risks, the apartment sector continues to benefit from astructurally undersupplied housing market and a rapidly slowing construction pipeline,which could support stronger-than-expected occupancy and rent growth.”
The full forecast can be found here.
For more information about the company, its products and services, please visit costargroup.com.
News Media Contacts
Haley Luther
Senior Communications Manager
(216) 278-0627
hluther@costar.com
About CoStar Group
CoStar Group (NASDAQ: CSGP) is a global leader in commercial real estateinformation, analytics, online marketplaces, and 3D digital twin technology. Foundedin 1986, CoStar Group is dedicated to digitizing the world’s real estate, empowering allpeople to discover properties, insights, and connections that improve their businessesand lives.
CoStar Group’s major brands include CoStar, a leading global provider of commercialreal estate data, analytics, and news; LoopNet, the most trafficked commercial realestate marketplace; Apartments.com, the leading platform for apartment rentals;Homes.com, the fastest-growing residential real estate marketplace; and Domain, oneof Australia’s leading property marketplaces. CoStar Group’s industry-leading brandsalso include Matterport, a leading spatial data company whose platform turnsbuildings into data to make every space more valuable and accessible; STR, a globalleader in hospitality data and benchmarking; Ten-X, an online platform for commercialreal estate auctions and negotiated bids; and OnTheMarket, a leading residentialproperty portal in the United Kingdom.
CoStar Group’s websites attracted over 118 million average monthly unique visitors inthe second quarter of 2026, serving clients around the world. Headquartered inArlington, Virginia, CoStar Group is committed to transforming the real estate industrythrough innovative technology and comprehensive market intelligence. From time totime, we plan to utilize our corporate website as a channel of distribution for materialcompany information. For more information, visit CoStarGroup.com.
This news release includes "forward-looking statements," including, without limitation,statements regarding CoStar's expectations or beliefs regarding the future. Thesestatements are based upon current beliefs and are subject to many risks anduncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from these statements.The following factors, among others, could cause or contribute to such differences: therisk that U.S. multifamily near-term rent growth and vacancy rates do not occur asforecast. More information about potential factors that could cause results to differmaterially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements include, but arenot limited to, those stated in CoStar’s filings from time to time with the Securities andExchange Commission, including in CoStar’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the yearended December 31, 2025 and Forms 10-Q for the quarterly periods ended March 31,2026, June 30, 2026, and September 30, 2025, each of which is filed with the SEC,including in the “Risk Factors” section of those filings, as well as CoStar’s other filingswith the SEC available at the SEC’s website (www.sec.gov). All forward-lookingstatements are based on information available to CoStar on the date hereof, andCoStar assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements,whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
