What's happening with San Diego rent

Find Out Your Home's Rent Potential

Call/text George Lorimer at 619-846-1244 to discuss your home's potential.

Rentometer National Single-Family Rentals Report: Insights and Trends for 2024

January 20th, 2025

Rentometer has published its annual single-family rentals report for 2024, highlighting rent prices and trends for single-family rentals in the U.S. Our report focuses on prices for 3-bedroom single-family homes in 857 cities across the U.S.

Below are the key takeaways from the report.

• Rent Growth Slows: Average single-family rents rose to $2,357, but annual growth slowed to 0.8%, the smallest increase in years.
• Vacancies Hit Record Highs: Vacancy rates reached 6% in Q3 2024, the highest in 26 quarters, putting downward pressure on rents.
• Build-to-Rent Impact: Rent declines in the Sun Belt, including Austin, TX, and Tampa, FL highlight the influence of build-to-rent developments, though this trend may not last.
• Regional Disparities Persist: Midwest rents grew the fastest (+5.26%), while the Southwest saw a slight decline (-0.09%).
• Expensive Coastal Markets Dominate: San Francisco led as the most expensive city ($5,265), with California cities dominating high-cost rankings.
• Affordability in Midwest and South: Toledo, OH ($1,217), and Detroit, MI ($1,308) offer some of the lowest rents among large cities.
• Mid-Sized and Small City Trends: Cambridge, MA ($5,687), and Newport Beach, CA ($7,316) topped mid-sized and small city rankings for rent prices, reflecting demand in affluent and tech-driven areas.

The rental market is undergoing a noticeable shift, as both apartment rents and the single-family rental segment—which houses 14 million Americans and has outperformed apartment rents over the past couple of years—experience a marked slowdown.

According to Rentometer's latest single-family rental market report, while average rents for single-family homes have continued to rise in the U.S.—reaching $2,357 in 2024—the pace of rent growth has significantly slowed. After sharp increases of 7.1% Y-o-Y in 2022 and 4% Y-o-Y in 2023, rent growth tapered to just 0.8% Y-o-Y in 2024, marking the smallest annual increase in recent years.

While the beginning of the year signaled another period of strong rent price increases for the single-family rental market, the pace of growth dwindled as the year progressed, ending in negative territory during the last quarter with rents dropping by 0.21% compared to the same period in 2023.
 

SFR Vacancies Reach Highest Level in 26 Quarters, Impacting Prices

While the apartment market has suffered due to a glut of new units coming to market—resulting in high vacancy rates and pricing pressure—these dynamics have also begun to impact single-family rents. According to the latest Census figures, vacancy rates for single-family rentals reached 6% in Q3 2024, the highest figure recorded over the past 26 quarters. Such levels have not been seen since the first quarter of 2018.