Mid-Year 2026 analysis of 1,099 U.S. cities finds median asking rents down 1.6% year over year, with nearly half of all markets recording annual declines as rental supply expands
Boston, MA (PRUnderground) July 21st, 2026
Rentometer, a leading provider of rental market data, today released its Mid-Year 2026 U.S. Single-Family Rental Market Report, which finds that national single-family rents have posted their first sustained slowdown since the post-pandemic rental boom, with median asking rents down 1.6% year-over-year.
The report analyzes median asking rents for 3-bedroom single-family homes across 1,099 U.S. cities, drawing on millions of rental listings to track pricing trends during the first half of 2026.
Key findings from the report include:
- National single-family rents declined 1.6% year over year during the first half of 2026, as the cooling trend that emerged in the second half of 2025 continued into the new year.
- The typical spring leasing season increase failed to materialize, with the national median asking rent unchanged between the first and second quarters.
- Nearly half of all markets (49%) recorded annual rent declines, with larger cities experiencing the greatest weakness.
- Rising rental supply — including build-to-rent communities and homeowners choosing to rent rather than sell — is giving renters more options and putting downward pressure on asking rents.
- While many Sun Belt markets continued to cool, several Bay Area cities, including San Francisco and San Jose, posted some of the strongest rent growth among major U.S. cities.
“The story is increasingly local. Sun Belt markets that led the country during the pandemic — Tampa, Phoenix, Nashville, Dallas — are still cooling, while San Francisco and San Jose posted some of the strongest rent growth of any large city, up nearly 6%. In a market this divided, hyper-local data is needed now more than ever. Knowing exactly what comparable homes on your street are renting for is the difference between pricing with precision and pricing on assumptions.” —Liz Boksanski, President of Rentometer.
The report also explores how regional trends are diverging and what these shifts could mean for renters, landlords, and the broader housing market heading into the second half of the year.
The full report is available at: https://www.rentometer.com/2026-mid-year-single-family-rental-market-report
About Rentometer
Rentometer is a Boston-based company that has been providing investors and real estate professionals with rent estimates and comps for over 15 years. Rentometer provides hyper-local rent data across the U.S., built from market-rate rental listings sourced from publicly available sites. With a focus on apartments and single-family rentals (SFRs), our data reflects real-time rental activity happening in today’s market. Rentometer collects, analyzes, and distributes multifamily and single-family rental price data throughout the U.S. Our rental data is proven to be valuable for our diverse customer base of real estate professionals–including real estate investors, property managers, agents, and even renters–as we deliver more than 20,000 reports daily.
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Original Press Release.
