Single-family rents lose steam at the end of 2025

U.S. single-family rent prices increased 1.2% year over year in December 2025.

• Chicago, IL, posted its third consecutive month of the highest rent growth prices in the nation at 4.8%.

• Annual rent growth in December 2025 declined in 35 out of 50 U.S. cities.

• 18 U.S. cities recorded declines in annual rent increases.

IRVINE, Calif., February 19, 2026 - Cotality, a leading global property information, analytics, and data-enabled solutions provider, released its latest Single-Family Rent Index (SFRI) with December 2025 data, which analyzes single-family rent price changes nationally and across major metropolitan areas. Single-family rent prices in December 2025 increased 1.2% year over year. This increase is a drop-off from the 2.5% increase we saw between December 2023 and 2024.

"The single-family rental market ended 2025 on a notably softer trajectory. 35 of the 50 largest metros posted slower annual rent growth in December 2025 than in December 2024, and 18 recorded outright annual declines - including eight in Florida, three in Texas, and two in Arizona. In several of these markets, persistently high multifamily vacancy rates are giving renters meaningful leverage, softening rents, even in the single family segment," said Molly Boesel, senior principal economist at Cotality, "Overall rent growth remains near 15 year lows, yet the high priced tier continues to track close to its long run trend, underscoring the K shaped dynamics shaping today's housing market. Affordability pressures remain front of mind for budget-constrained renters as these conditions persist."

Rent for high-end properties increased 2.2% year over year in December 2025, a drop from the 2.8% gain recorded in December 2024. Low-end property prices decreased by -0.3% in December 2025, a significant drop from a 2.8% gain in December 2024.  

Rent growth for detached rentals was once again 0.8% in December 2025, while it increased 0.9% for attached rentals.  

National trends remained mostly unchanged from the previous months in December 2025. Chicago remained at the top of the list for the highest rent growth, at 4.8% in December 2025. Philadelphia, PA, had the second-highest rent growth at 3.3%, followed by Detroit, MI (3.1%), New York-Jersey City-White Plains, NY-NJ (2.5%), and Los Angeles, CA (2.4%). Rent growth in Dallas, TX, remained negative, with the metroplex posting -1.2%, followed by Miami, FL (-1%) and Houston, TX (-0.3%).

The next Cotality Single-Family Rent Index will be released on March 19, featuring data for January 2026. For ongoing housing trends and data, visit the Cotality Insights blog: https://www.cotality.com/insights.  

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Methodology

The Cotality Single-Family Rent Index (SFRI) applies a repeat pairing methodology to single-family rental listing data in the Multiple Listing Service. The rental listings used to calculate the index include both attached and detached single-family homes, as well as condominiums. This report shows trends for the U.S. and the 10 largest U.S. metropolitan areas. In addition to these 10 metros, the Cotality SFRI is available for close to 100 metropolitan areas - including approximately 50 metros with four value tiers - and a national composite index. The indices are fully revised with each release to signal turning points sooner. 

The Cotality Single-Family Rent Index analyzes data across four price tiers: Lower-priced, which represent rentals with prices 75% or below the regional median; lower-middle, 75% to 100% of the regional median; higher-middle, 100%-125% of the regional median; and higher-priced, 125% or more above the regional median. 

Median rent price data is produced monthly by Cotality Rental Trends. Rental Trends is built on a database of more than 11 million rental properties (over 75% of all U.S. individually owned rental properties) and covers all 50 states and 17,500 ZIP codes. 

About Cotality

Cotality accelerates data, insights, and workflows across the property ecosystem to enable industry professionals to surpass their ambitions and impact society. With billions of real-time data signals across the life cycle of a property, we unearth hidden risks and transformative opportunities for agents, lenders, carriers, and innovators. Get to know us at https://www.cotality.com.  

Media Contact

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