Single-family rent growth was on the rise in the first half of 2025, up to 1.7% year over year, according to a report from Rentometer. The current median rent for a three-bedroom home is $2,135, calculated based on rents in over 1,100 U.S. cities.
As of now, rent growth for single-family rental homes is trending below the historical 2%-4% range, below wage growth and inflation, according to the report. However, the market is coming off of several years of elevated rent growth in the post-pandemic period. Asking rents for single-family homes have risen 39.5% over the past five years, alongside only a 23% increase in the median household income nationwide, the report said.
This growth has placed increasing pressure on renters, according to the report, especially in coastal markets. In the most expensive cities, including San Francisco and Cambridge, Massachusetts, renter households would require an annual income of $200,000 or higher to comfortably afford a three-bedroom single-family home — well over the median local income.
Rents rose most rapidly in the Midwest — up 6.1% across the entire region in the first half of the year — and the Northeast at 4.5%, followed by the Pacific at 3.1%, the Rocky Mountain region at 1.1% and the Southwest where rents remained flat.
Out of the largest cities, Boston saw the highest annual rent growth at 12.5% YOY, up to $4,500 per month, followed by Staten Island, New York, at 9.4% YOY and Long Beach, California, at 9.0% YOY. The report attributes Boston’s growth to its greater share of larger, higher-priced homes and a tight inventory.
In contrast, cities with the most affordable single-family rental homes include Toledo, Ohio, at $1,250 and Wichita, Kansas, at $1,350. Fort Wayne, Indiana, recorded the steepest year-over-year decline at -6.4%, followed by Dallas at -6.3%.
Dallas has had one of the most robust pipelines of new single-family rental home deliveries during the current construction boom. The city has received over 10,400 new units in the past five years — second only to the Phoenix metro area, according to the report.
For rent
Vacancies for single-family home rentals have risen to a record high in 2025, up to 6.3% in the first quarter — the highest level seen since 2016, according to the report. Rentometer attributes this trend to a record number of newly built single-family rental homes over the past several years, given investor interest in the sector.
Over 39,000 new single-family rental homes were delivered in 2024, according to a report from Point2 Homes cited by Rentometer with 101,000 more in the pipeline for future construction. Most of these new units are in the Southeast and Southwest, where rent growth has been slowest.
Apartment vacancies came in slightly higher in the first quarter at 8.2%. Overall, this trend creates a greater variety of choices for renters, as well as more bargaining power, which creates a downward pressure on rents in oversupplied or cooling markets, according to the report.
“Despite rising vacancy rates, expanded rental options and declining home prices in some parts of the country, these trends appear to signal a transitional phase rather than a cause for concern,” the report reads. “While home prices have fallen in select markets, high mortgage rates and softer consumer confidence continue to keep many renters from entering the housing market. As a result, home purchase activity remains subdued, and renting continues to be the more practical option for a large share of households.”
