A 2026 Zumper rent report has revealed that Texas is leading the nation in annual rent declines since 2025. In August, Austin rent prices fell as much as 19 percent since the the same month a year before.
Zumper's monthly report analyzes one- and two-bedroom rent prices from the previous month across 100 U.S. cities, and tracks one-month and year-over-year changes.
Austin, Houston, and Dallas, respectively, locked out the top three cities where one-bedroom rent prices have plummeted more than anywhere else in the country.
A one-bedroom apartment in Austin had a $1,260 monthly rent price in August, down 16.6 percent since the same time last year. Two-bedroom units were 19.1 percent cheaper than they were a year ago and in 2026 sat at $1,610 per month.
The reports findings show a similar pattern across Texas' biggest metros as "elevated multifamily supply" was "absorbed through the boom years." Renters currently have the advantageous opportunity to negotiate lower rent from their landlords, according to Zumper CEO Shawn Mullahy.
"Texas is showing exactly what happens when supply materially outruns demand," Mullahy said. "Austin, Houston and Dallas added enormous amounts of inventory, and renters now have leverage because owners are competing to fill it. That won’t reverse until enough of that supply is absorbed."
For comparison, Zumper's National Rent Index for August 2026 found the median one-bedroom rent fell 0.1 percent year-over-year to $1,515, while two-bedroom rent increased 0.5 percent to $1,907.
Rent prices across Texas
Houston had the second-steepest decline in both one- and two-bedroom rent prices in August. Rent for a single-bedroom unit dipped 14.6 percent year-over-year to $1,050, and the price for a two-bedroom unit fell 5.4 percent to $1,400.
A one-bedroom unit in Dallas, meanwhile, had a $1,270 monthly price, down 13 percent from August 2025. Rent for a two-bedroom unit declined by 13.4 percent to $1,810 per month.
Elsewhere in the North Texas region, rent prices for a one-bedroom unit in Plano have dipped 7.1 percent since last year to $1,310. Single-bedroom units in Irving are renting for $1,210 a month, or 4.7 percent lower than they were the year before.
Across town in Fort Worth and Arlington, one-bedroom units had a monthly asking price of $1,160 and $1,080 in August. Arlington's one-bedroom rent price is unchanged from 2025, and Fort Worth's is down 3.3 percent.
This is how much it cost for a two-bedroom unit across DFW in August, compared to the previous year:
- Plano: $1,920 per month, down 3.5 percent
- Irving: $1,620 per month, down 4.7 percent
- Fort Worth: $1,530 per month, down 5.5 percent
- Arlington: $1,460 per month, down 2.8 percent
In San Antonio, single-bedroom rent prices fell 8.6 percent to $960 per month, and two-bedroom rent declined by 4.5 percent to $1,260.
