Rent is dropping — but not in Richmond

Rents are actually coming down nationwide for the first time since March 2020. The median U.S. asking rent fell 0.4% year over year to $1,937 in March, per a Redfin analysis.

Yes, but: They're not falling in Richmond. The median rent hit $1,749 last month, a 0.5% increase from last March.

What's happening: It's a supply and demand story — at least nationwide.

• Demand is falling because people appear to have reached their price limits with rents.
• Supply is rising because hundreds of thousands of newly constructed multifamily apartments came on the market last year at a record pace, per an analysis of census data on new residential construction, conducted by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.

Richmond just hasn't hit the supply and demand tipping point yet.

Reality check: It could be worse. We could be in Raleigh, which saw a 16% year-over-year increase in its rent prices, the highest in the nation.

Go deeper: See the nationwide outlook.