Annual single-family rent growth accelerated for the sixth consecutive month

U.S. single-family rent prices increased 2.0% year over year in August 2026.

• Midwestern markets continued to lead rent growth, with Chicago posting the strongest gain among major metros at 4.9%.

• Cotality saw growth vary by price tier, with high-end rents up 2.8% and low-end rents up just 0.8%.

• Fewer markets saw annual rent reductions. In August, only 2 markets recorded annual rent index decreases, the lowest in nearly three years.

IRVINE, Calif., October 15, 2026 - Cotality, a leading global property information, analytics, and data-enabled solutions provider, released its latest Single-Family Rent Index (SFRI) for August 2026, which tracks single-family rent price changes nationally. Single-family rent prices in July 2026 increased by 2.0% year-over-year, a slight decrease from last year's annual increase of 2.1%. The increase marked the sixth consecutive month of faster rent growth.

"August marks an important milestone for the rental market. Annual single-family rent growth returned to its long-run range, albeit at the lower end, for the first time since August 2025, and the number of markets experiencing rent declines fell to its lowest level since September 2023. Together, these trends suggest that rental market conditions are continuing to normalize and that rent growth is becoming more broadly distributed across the country," said Molly Boesel, senior principal economist at Cotality.

As prices increase across the nation, we also saw the continued growth split across the price tiers. High-priced single-family rentals posted a 2.8% annual increase, while low-priced rentals rose just 0.8%.

Cotality saw rent growth in both detached rentals (2.1%) and attached rentals (1.9%).

Chicago's 4.9% increase kept the Midwest at the top of our rental growth index, continuing the pattern we've seen since March 2025. It is followed by Philadelphia (3.9%), New York- Jersey City (3.7%), and Detroit (3.3%). Rent price growth continues to stagnate in the south, where Houston saw rent growth slow to 0.6% in August 2026. It was followed by Washington, DC (0.9%) and Dallas (1.2%). Cape Coral-Fort Meyers, FL and North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota FL were the only two metros to see annual rent decreases in August.

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

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 www.cotality.com.  

Media Contact

Charity Head 

Cotality 

[email protected]

‍