Asking rents for US apartments ticked up sequentially last month, but were largely unchanged from the same point last year in a signal that supply and demand were in sync, Redfin (RDFN) said Monday.

The median rent was $1,599 in January, up 0.5% from December but down 0.1% from the first month of 2024, the real estate brokerage's report showed.

"Rental supply and demand are in lockstep, which is keeping rent growth at bay, but that may not last long," Redfin Senior Economist Sheharyar Bokhari said.

In Los Angeles, where there were reports of price gouging due to the January wildfires, three-bedroom-plus asking rents jumped 3.9% year over year, the biggest increase since November 2023, Redfin said.

Rents for studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments in LA also rose, the report showed.

Nationwide, asking rents fell year over year across all bedroom counts for the seventh consecutive month in January, led by a 1.7% decline for the largest category. Austin, Texas, drove the consolidated decline in median asking rent, with a 16% drop.

New tariffs on building materials could impact apartment construction and affect supply, while rental demand for apartments is expected to continue growing amid elevated mortgage rates and housing prices, according to Bokhari.

President Donald Trump said Sunday that he would impose 25% tariffs on metal imports. Last week, he delayed plans for 25% general import tariffs on Canada and Mexico. China recently announced a series of retaliatory tariffs against the US.

"Rents will tick up if demand starts to outpace supply in a meaningful way," Bokhari said.