Median rents in Reston have fallen 1.9% year over year as a result of new construction in the area.

Rent for one-bedroom units averages at $2,234 and two-bedroom units at $2,365, according to Apartment List data released Monday, June 30. For a typical one-bedroom renter, that's roughly $43 less per month than a year ago.

The decline tracks a broader softening across Fairfax County, where seven of eight corridors posted year-over-year drops. The county's overall median fell about $46, from $2,472 to $2,426. Only Lorton bucked the trend, ticking up 0.2%.

How Reston compares

Reston's one-bedroom median of $2,234 sits between cheaper Herndon ($1,880, down 0.8%) and pricier Tysons ($2,396, down 2.2%). Across all unit sizes, Reston's median landed at $2,409.

The D.C. metro area's median rent was $2,168 in June. Arlington ranked fifth nationally among the 100 largest urban areas at $2,601.

Supply is the story

The common thread behind the softening is inventory. A wave of new multifamily construction has kept full-year national rent growth negative for three consecutive years through 2026, according to Apartment List analysts.

"The biggest story in housing is still supply," Zumper CEO Shawn Mullahy said in the firm's June report. "Where supply remains elevated, rents are still soft, although the declines are moderating. Where supply is constrained, rents are rising, sometimes aggressively."

Locally, that supply pipeline keeps growing. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved BXP's Reston Town Center Phase 2 in November 2025, greenlighting approximately 1,402 new residential units, 930,000 square feet of office space, and 86,900 square feet of retail near the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station. That's on top of the existing 508-unit Signature Apartments at 11850 Freedom Drive, which BXP sold in January 2026 to a joint venture of Sterling Investors and Simpson Housing for approximately $240 million.

National context

Nationally, the median U.S. apartment rent was $1,385 in June, a fifth consecutive monthly increase but still 1.2% below year-ago levels. The national vacancy rate held at 7.2%, stable since mid-2025. Despite the recent pullback, rents remain 21% higher than at the start of 2021, according to Apartment List.

Zumper's data told a slightly different story at the national level: one-bedroom rents rose 0.4% year over year to $1,526, the first positive reading since May 2025.

What comes next

Apartment List analysts expect prices to continue rising for another month or two through the peak summer leasing season before a fall cooldown begins. That seasonal pattern would narrow the current discount window for Reston renters before autumn.