Rent prices dropped to their lowest level in four years in January, which the Trump administration touted as an affordability win.
CNBC reported, “The national median rent in January was $1,353, a drop of 1.4% compared with one year ago, according to Apartment List. This is now the fourth consecutive winter with a ‘pronounced’ offseason dip, and is the largest annual drop since September 2023 and the lowest January rent since 2022. Rents are now 6.2% lower than their last peak in the summer of 2022.”
“The national vacancy rate was 7.3% in January, a record high on Apartment List’s index, which dates to 2017. Units are also taking an average of 41 days to get leased, four days more than in January 2025 and another high for the index,” the news outlet added.
The markets with the steepest annual declines were in the South and Mountain West regions, while those in the Northeast, Midwest, and West Coast continued to see rising rents, CNBC said.
The softest rental market in the country was Austin, Texas, where rents fell 6.3 percent, followed by New Orleans, San Antonio, Tucson, and Denver.
Apartment rents just dropped to the lowest level in 4 yearshttps://t.co/Bf5M7GlyLm
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) February 2, 2026
The White House highlighted, “According to new data, rents posted their sixth straight monthly decline in January, with the largest annual drop in more than two years — down 6.2% from their Biden-era peak.”
“2026 is shaping up to be one of the more renter-friendly periods we’ve seen in a decade,” Michelle Griffith, a luxury real estate broker at Douglas Elliman, told CNBC.
Speaking at an event in Allentown, Pennsylvania, last month, Vice President J.D. Vance said, “Why have rents gone down for four consecutive months? … Because we’re starting to get those illegal aliens out of the United States of America. Those criminals, those gang members, those people who are taking homes that ought by right go to people in this room.”
“It’s simple economics,” he asserted, suggesting it is a matter of supply and demand.
Speaking more broadly on Wednesday about the cost of living, Vance told podcast host Megyn Kelly, “If you look at the numbers on affordability, they are starting to move in our direction.”
“There’s clear movement from where there was, say, four or five months ago,” he added.
Affordability was the top issue voters identified in the off-year elections that took place in November.
VP Vance on the Trump Administration’s progress towards restoring affordability to the American people:
“The average American household has gained about $1,200 during the Trump administration…Rents have now declined five months in a row…We just have to keep working at it.” pic.twitter.com/R7MPZ5i3mt
— Vice President JD Vance (@VP) February 4, 2026
Vance went on to note that due to inflation spiking to over 9 percent during the Biden administration, the average household lost about $3,000 in buying power.
Meanwhile, “The average American household … has gained about $1,200 during the Trump administration,” he said, arguing that this is why people are still feeling the pinch, because they are still $1,800 per year poorer than when Biden took office in 2021.
“We recognize there’s still a lot of work to do,” the vice president argued, but things are going in the right direction.
The Daily Signal reported Wednesday that fresh polling data shows people’s views of their personal finances are improving.
“Americans’ optimism for their personal financial situation increased from 24% to 32% since November, according to polling from Napolitan,” the news outlet said. “Meanwhile, Americans’ pessimism has declined by 11%, from 41% to 30%.”
“That’s close to the most optimistic assessment we’ve measured in five years,” pollster Scott Rasmussen noted.
He contended that people currently are not connecting their improving finances to President Donald Trump’s and the Republicans’ policies.
“If this is a ceiling and we can’t go above it, Democrats are very likely to take the house…” @ScottWRasmussen takes under 3 minutes to discuss some exciting economic numbers for Republicans, but also issues a caution. pic.twitter.com/bQMiolF6n4
— Napolitan News Service (@NapolitanNews) February 4, 2026
“If the economy continues to improve … it will be very important for the Trump administration to connect those improvements to the tax cuts that were passed last year,” Rasmussen said, in terms of the GOP having a strong midterm performance.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
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