The national rent index fell by 0.4 percent from November to December, according to the Apartment List National Rent Report of 2021. For comparison, month-over-month declines in prior Decembers were 0.2 percent in 2019, 0.2 percent in 2018, and 0.3 percent in 2017.
At the national level, 2020 can be broken into three distinct phases:
January to March: the pandemic had yet to significantly disrupt everyday life in the United States, so rents followed their normal trajectory. After a typical winter slump, they picked back up as the weather and the market started to warm.
March to June: the pandemic truly disrupted the market. Americans were told to avoid nonessential moves, slowing the market tremendously. In previous years, rents rose 1percent per month during this period, but in 2020 they moved in the opposite direction.
Since June: the overall national trend has moved in a fairly predictable fa
