Rent Cuts Hit Ann Arbor for Third Consecutive Month

Ann Arbor rents contracted meaningfully for the third straight month in October. Rental rates in Ann Arbor fell 6.1% in the year-ending October 2025, according to data from RealPage Market Analytics. That decline was notably deeper than the cuts seen in the U.S overall (-0.8%) and in the Midwest region (-0.7%). Recent rent cuts in Ann Arbor were also below the market’s five-year average (-4.3%). In fact, these are some of the deepest price declines Ann Arbor has seen in the past 15 years. This small market with just 39,125 existing apartment units is home to the University of Michigan and has a strong technology presence. The most significant downshift in Ann Arbor’s performance hit Class C product with effective asking rents contracting 9.7% in the year-ending October 2025. Class B rents fell 5.2%, while Class A apartment operators reduced rents by a comparatively mild 1.2%. Increasing vacancies are tampering rental rates. Occupancy in Ann Arbor landed at 96.1% in October, down 10 basis points (bps) month-over-month and 30 bps year-over-year. In the past year, Class C occupancy shifted down 80 bps, while occupancy in Class A product decelerated 190 bps. Conversely, occupancy ticked up 30 bps in Class B product in the year-ending October.