Single-family rents continue to stabilize in July

Rent growth for single-family homes rose along seasonal norms in July, continuing the trend of preceding months, real estate analytics firm Cotality said Thursday.

July also marked the fifth consecutive month of rent price growth, according to the company’s latest Single-Family Rental Index, which tracks single-family rent price changes nationwide. Single-family rents rose about 0.4% from June.

“The July monthly increase of 0.4% continued a return to normal seasonal patterns that took hold in early 2026 after nearly a year of below-trend growth, which kept national rent growth below historic averages,” read the report.

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Single-family rents increased 1.8% from a year ago in July, the fastest pace of growth since late last year, according to Cotality. Rents were about 1.5% higher year over year in June following annual growth of 1.3% in May.

That compares to a much faster clip of rent growth during the COVID-19 pandemic — and even in 2025, when annual rent growth last July came in at 2.3%.

But regional variations and diverging trends across price tiers ultimately dictate where momentum across the single-family rental sector is expanding and contracting.

High-priced rentals, for example, recorded a 2.6% annual increase in July, while low-priced units rose just 0.6%. But that price gap evens out within a broader five-year lookback.

Rents for less-expensive units increased 26% since early 2021, Cotality reported, slightly above the 24% increase for the higher-priced rentals.

“That suggests recent strength at the upper end may be less of a fundamental shift in demand and more of a catch-up period, as cumulative rent growth remains higher in the low-price tier despite the recent slowdown,” noted Molly Boesel, senior principal economist at Cotality.

Midwest markets continued to see the strongest rent growth in the U.S., with Chicago — which has topped Cotality’s list since March 2025 — posting annual rent price growth of 5%, just slightly below last year’s pace.

Detroit followed with 3.7% growth, trailed by gains of 3.5% in Philadelphia, which were slightly higher than the annual pace of rent increases a year ago.

On the other end of the spectrum, the least momentum for rent price growth among major metros remains concentrated in Southern markets.

For the sixth consecutive month, Houston recorded the lowest rent appreciation at just 0.2%, followed by Washington, D.C., and Dallas, which each recorded gains of 0.6%. Across the 50 largest U.S. metros, only four posted declines in July — all in Florida.