All eyes are on Northern Virginia’s housing market, watching to see how changes to the federal workforce might impact the region’s real estate. And rent prices are changing, too. March 2025 data shows that median rent prices are higher now than they were a year ago in the Washington, DC, region, despite a slight decrease in rent nationwide.
Data from Apartment List, released March 27, shows that prices in the DC area are up 2.3 percent year over year and up 0.6 percent over the past month. This includes DC, NoVA, and the Maryland suburbs.
Region-wide, median rental prices are at about $2,215 for a two-bedroom unit.
More specifically, Annandale, Woodbridge, and Arlington saw the largest year-over-year rent spikes in Northern Virginia. Annandale’s rents rose 9.7 percent, Woodbridge’s rose 6.6 percent, and Arlington’s were up 5.9 percent.
Topping the charts with the highest median rental prices in NoVA are Arlington, Tysons Corner, and Merrifield. For a two-bedroom unit, the median is $2,985 in Arlington, $2,890 in Tysons Corner, and $2,863 in Merrifield.
Comparatively, Fredericksburg and Leesburg had the lowest rents in Northern Virginia, at $1,684 and $2,019 respectively. Reston had the most stable rent, with only a 2.2 percent increase year over year.
Nationwide, rental prices actually saw a modest 0.4 percent decrease over the past year, for a national median rent of $1,384. But month over month, national rents rose 0.6 percent. This hints that, while year-over-year change is still negative, national rents may rise throughout 2025.
“Year-over-year growth remains negative (-0.4 percent), but is slowly creeping closer to positive territory. … Currently, it appears likely that 2025 will see a return to positive year-over-year rent growth, but that positive growth is likely to be modest,” Apartment List said.
Feature image, stock.adobe.com
