Single-family rent growth steadies as Midwest leads and Sun Belt softens

National rent growth slowed annually but remains consistent with seasonal patterns.

• U.S. single-family rent prices increased 1.4% year over year in April 2026. 

• Cities in the Midwest and Northeast saw the largest annual rent growth.

• Rent growth is uneven across income tiers, as affordability pressure appears to limit low-end growth.

IRVINE, Calif., June 18, 2026 - Cotality, a leading global property information, analytics, and data-enabled solutions provider, released its latest Single-Family Rent Index (SFRI) with April 2026 data, which analyzes single-family rent price changes nationally and across major metropolitan areas. Single-family rent prices in April 2026 increased 1.4% year over year, a continued deceleration year-over-year when rent prices increased by 2.8% in April 2025.

"Single-family rent growth has shifted into a slower gear, with annual gains continuing to ease even as monthly increases remain in line with typical seasonal patterns. Since Fall 2025, annual rent growth has held within a narrow range of about 1% to 1.5%, signaling that the market has settled into a more stable phase after the sharper deceleration seen earlier," said Molly Boesel, senior principal economist at Cotality. "Growth continues to diverge by segment and region, with higher-priced rentals still outperforming lower-priced homes. Regionally, Midwestern and Northeastern markets such as Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York are driving stronger gains, with Chicago up 5.5% year over year, while some Sun Belt markets, including Miami and Los Angeles, are flat or declining. With annual gains remaining subdued and fewer markets posting declines, rent growth appears to be holding steady at a low level rather than building momentum going forward."

Rent for high-end properties increased 2.1% year over year in April 2026, a drop from the 3.3% gain recorded last year. However, high-end rental growth remains higher than that of low-end properties, a sign that demand in the demographic remains more resilient. Low-end property prices increased 0.6% year over year, a drop from a 2.4% gain in April 2025, as affordability pressure may be limiting growth in this tier. Rent growth for detached rentals increased by 1.1% in April 2026, while it increased 1.0% for attached rentals.

Rent growth continues to be regionally impacted as metros in the Midwest and Northeast, including Chicago (5.5%), Philadelphia (3.0%), New York (2.6%), and Detroit (1.8%) lead year-over-year gains. Meanwhile, metros in the Sun Belt including Los Angeles (-0.5%), Miami (-0.4%), Houston (0.1%), and Dallas (0.6%) stabilized or softened after years of outsized growth.

Rent price growth continues to decelerate in many other areas across the country. 11 of the 50 largest U.S. metros saw annual decreases, with 8 of those happening in Florida. 36 metros saw slowdowns in annual rent growth compared with the prior year, with the largest being Los Angeles, which dropped from 5.2% in April 2025 to -0.5% in April 2026. Washington, D.C. saw the next largest slowdown of 4.4% to 0.8% year-over-year.

The next Cotality Single-Family Rent Index will be released on July 16, featuring data for May 2026. For ongoing housing trends and data, visit the Cotality Insights blog: https://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. 

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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.  

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