Tracking rents is important for understanding the dynamics of the housing market. Slower household formation and increased supply (more multi-family completions) has kept asking rents under pressure for the last few years.
More recently, immigration policy has become a negative for rentals.
Rents are flat month-over-month, down 0.8% year-over-year
The national median rent held steady in July and now stands at $1,402. Month-over-month rent growth peaked early this year and has stalled out during peak moving season, when it's typically fastest.
Rent prices nationally are down 0.8% compared to one year ago. Year-over-year rent growth had been close to flipping positive for the first time since 2023, but has now ticked further negative for three consecutive months.
The national multifamily vacancy rate ticked up to 7.1% this month, setting a new record for our index. We're past the peak of a multifamily construction surge, but the market is still absorbing all of the new units, and vacancies are still trending up.
Realtor.com: 23rd Consecutive Month with Year-over-year Decline in Rents
June 2025 marks the 23rd straight month of year-over-year rent decline for 0-2 bedroom properties observed since trend data began in 2020. Asking rents dipped by $36, or -2.1%, year over year.
Cotality: Single Family Rents Up 3.1% year-over-year
Compared to last May, rents increased by 3.1%, compared to 3% in May 2024. This trend continues from the past few months as prices return to pre-pandemic rates of growth at 3.4%.
"Annual single-family rent growth accelerated in May for the fourth consecutive month, signaling sustained momentum in the rental market. While rent growth increases have been gradual, they stand in stark contrast to the cooling trend in home price growth, which has been slowing throughout 2025,” said Molly Boesel, Cotality senior principal economist. “This divergence isn’t surprising — many would-be buyers, deterred by elevated home prices and interest rates, are staying in the rental market, driving up demand. Monthly gains in the single-family rent index have consistently outpaced seasonal norms this year, suggesting that annual rent growth for 2025 is on track to exceed 3%."
Real Page on July Rents: Annual Rent Growth of 0.2%
For the second consecutive month, U.S. apartment occupancy registered at 95.5%, according to July data from RealPage Market Analytics. That was down just a shade from the peak of 95.6% from April and May, and just a shade above the market’s five-year average of 95.4%. Year-over-year, occupancy was up 140 basis points (bps).
Effective asking rents were up 0.2% year-over-year across the U.S. While any rent growth at all after the historic supply wave the country just came through is impressive, this was the market’s lowest annual price increase in 10 months. Thus, operators continue to preserve occupancy at the expense of pushing prices.
U.S. rent growth in June was historically subdued, with typical asking rents rising only 2.9% year-over-year to $2,069. Rent growth slowed from 3.1% in May. Zillow’s Observed Rent Forecast (ZORF) now projects 2025 rent growth at 2.7% for single-family homes and just 1.3% for multifamily units—both down sharply from 2024.
Rental concessions hit a record high for June, with 35% of listings offering perks like free rent or parking—an all-time high for the month—signaling continued market softness despite cumulative rent growth of 35.3% over five years.
Rent Data
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