04:27 PM EDT, 07/14/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Asking rents in the US fell annually for the 35th consecutive month in June, with a "modest rent relief" expected to continue during the rest of the year, News Corp's ( NWSA ) Realtor.com said Tuesday.

The median asking rent across the 50 largest US metropolitan areas for up to two-bedroom properties dropped 1.5% year over year to $1,692 last month, according to a report by the online real estate portal.

While the median rent is 16% above June 2019, it has fallen 4.1% from its August 2022 peak.

"As we enter the summer, we expect the median asking rent to tick up on a monthly basis -- a typical seasonal pattern," Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale and Economist Jiayi Xu said. "However, given the surge in multifamily construction over the past few years, we anticipate continued year-over-year declines. In other words, modest rent relief is likely to continue in 2026."

Permit activity for projects of five or more units in the 50 largest US metro areas increased 1.9% annually in 2025 but was about 13% below 2019 levels, Realtor.com added.

"This retreat raises concerns about the long-term path to affordability, since a permitting pipeline that remains well below pandemic levels suggests the supply-side progress that has driven rents down over the past three years may not last much longer," Hale and Xu wrote.

US housing starts plummeted to the lowest level since 2020 in May amid a steep drop in multi-family projects, government data showed last month. Building permits -- which is a forward-looking indicator of homebuilding -- decreased 0.7%.