According to a new report from the Washington Post, rent prices across the country are falling compared to previous years.

In Iowa, rental prices are beginning to stabilize. Although they seem high right now, they are not as high as they have been in recent years.

The report indicates that the average rent in Linn County is around $900, a 3% increase from last year, a significant improvement over the 17.1% change over the past five years.

Most counties in eastern Iowa saw rent increases of about 3% or less, while in Bremer County average rents decreased by 0.5%.

Experts attribute the halt in rent price increases to the fact that the supply of rental housing is gradually exceeding demand, which has helped keep rent inflation in check.

“Rents haven’t gone up that much in the past year, but at the same time they haven’t gone down either,” said Andrew Aurand, senior vice president of research at the National Low Income Housing Coalition. “In Iowa and many other places, they’ve gone up about 3% in the past year, so that compares well to previous years.”

Although more rental apartments are available at reasonable prices, Aurand points out that many renters still need help finding and paying for housing.

“We need more supply so that rents stabilize. We need more funding for rental assistance so that we can help low-income tenants so that they can afford this supply. We also need more subsidies so that developers can actually create housing that has lower rents for low-income tenants,” Aurand said.