Phoenix apartment rents held flat in April Article originally posted on CoStar on May 6, 2026 The average asking rent for Phoenix apartment properties was unchanged in April, marking the fifth consecutive month with flat or positive movement. Last month’s performance brings year-to-date growth to 0.4%, as the Valley held on to the modest gains achieved earlier in the year. This marks a divergence from the same time period in 2025, when asking rent growth had dipped into negative territory through the first four months of the year. Back then, healthy gains in the opening month of 2025 had been erased by April and continued to fall through most of the year. Annual rent growth reached negative 3% by the end of 2025, the largest annual decrease since the Great Recession. Instead, recent rent performance is more closely aligned with trends from 2023 and 2024. In those years, the Valley notched growth of about 0.5% year-to-date through April and finished with annual declines of 1% to 1.5%. For comparison, the Valley averaged about 2% growth in the opening four months of the year from 2015 to 2019. There are factors pointing to improved rent performance this year. Net absorption, or the change in occupied stock, accelerated to the highest level on record in the first quarter of 2026. It was also the first time demand formation outpaced net completions since 2021, causing vacancy to modestly decline. Additionally, the pace of supply additions has peaked, and the completion schedule is poised for consecutive years of slowing in 2026 and 2027. While fewer new developments opening will reduce direct supply-side pressure, the accumulation of excess inventory over the past few years is likely to keep competition for renters broadly elevated. As a result, while a repeat of 2025’s sharp rent cut is not the baseline forecast, a meaningful acceleration of rent growth in 2026 is also not expected.