Austin and Atlanta have pulled off something rare: rent declines. Their rapid construction and intentional growth offer a model for the rest of the country. 

By Patrick Carroll of AIER. Excerpts:

"In a September article, Realtor.com highlighted three metros that are seeing the biggest declines. 

“Rents in Las Vegas (-13.6 percent), Atlanta (-13.6 percent), and Austin, TX (-13.4 percent), are seeing the largest price cuts from their peaks, highlighting prime opportunities in these markets,” writes Joy Dumandan."

"Economist Jiayi Xu offered an explanation for these trends. 

“Las Vegas, Austin, and Atlanta saw the largest rent declines from their peaks due to rapid rent growth during the pandemic, when many people moved to warm Sun Belt areas, creating a high starting point for corrections,” she said. “Migration trends have slowed, and significant new multifamily supply has increased options for renters, exerting downward pressure on prices,” she continued. “Combined, these factors have pushed rents down more sharply than in other markets.”

Xu’s comment about “significant new multifamily supply” is key."

"Markets with the biggest rent deflation over the last 3 years: 

Austin: -21% 

Fort Myers: -19% 

CoSprings: -15% 

Phoenix: -14% 

Raleigh: -13% 

San Antonio: -12% 

Atlanta: -11% 

Denver: -11%" 

"An August report from RentCafe looked at new apartment construction in 2025 across the US and identified the places that are building the most units. The South overall had a strong showing, accounting for 52.5 percent of the 506,353 units that are expected to be opened nationwide by the end of the year. Within the South, Texas is experiencing some of the biggest housing growth, fueled especially by growth in Austin.

The report presented a ranking of the US cities that are building the most housing this year, as well as a separate ranking for US metros. Austin took the top spot in the country on the city level, with an estimated 15,195 units expected to be completed this year. Austin came third in the country on the metro level with 26,715 units expected to be built, behind Dallas (28,958) and New York City (30,023)."

"Atlanta came sixth in the country on RentCafe’s list of cities, with 6,359 new units expected to be completed this year. The Atlanta metro area took fifth place on the metros list, with 17,512 units expected."

"How can we add more supply? One of the best ways is deregulation. As economist Bryan Caplan explains in his recent illustrated book Build, Baby, Build, the main reason housing is so expensive is because of manufactured scarcity — restrictions on the supply of housing created by government regulations. 

“Housing prices stay high in desirable areas,” Caplan writes, “because most governments strictly regulate new construction.”

Caplan anticipates a common reaction: “Sounds more like Right Wing Ideology 101 to me.” This is understandable, but Caplan stresses that housing deregulation is a bipartisan issue that even non-right-wingers should be able to champion. He points to progressive thinkers like Paul Krugman, Obama-advisor Jason Furman, and Matt Yglesias as people whose left-wing credentials are not in doubt, yet who acknowledge that strict regulation really is a big part of America’s housing problem."