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Earlier this year we conducted our annual Leaders Survey. Each year we ask industry professionals (executives, owners, managers, etc.) questions to track their concerns, priorities, perceived trends, and confidence in industry outlook.
One of the most immediately noticeable observations was an all-time high in rent concessions. In 2026, 84% of portfolios are offering some form of rent concession.
This is up even further from 2025’s figure of 76%. In fact, the pervasiveness of rent concession has increased YoY every year since 2022, after experiencing a tremendous drop between 2020 and 2021. Also interestingly, the 2021-2026 trends inverse the 2009-2013 trends.
The nature of these concessions has also evolved to convey a more surgical approach. A majority (60%) of respondents informed that they were offering concessions in select markets only, compared to 24% offering across their entire portfolio.
Juxtaposed with a new all-time high in rent concessions is a new low in average rent increase.
Average effective rent increases have shrunk from 5.51% in 2025 to only 3.14% in 2026. This marks the lowest point since 2020, which is even more attention-grabbing when you notice the all-time high point of 19.5% average increase in 2023. Average effective rent increases remained considerably more stable between 2016 and 2020, before dramatically jumping each year for the three years to follow.
Stay tuned for many more findings from data kindly provided to us by multifamily professionals in the Leaders Survey Report to be released in full next month.