Who owns the single-family and multifamily rental housing stock?

By Wolf Richter for WOLF STREET.

Asking rents for single-family rentals in the mid-tier range across the US exploded by 47% from January 2020 through September 2026 — despite only small increases in 2024 and 2025. But this year, asking rents have been re-accelerating again (red in the chart). Some mid-sized markets have far bigger increases over those nearly six years. Among the largest metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), the biggest increases from January 2020 through September 2026 occurred in:

• Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach (+65%);
• Cleveland (+60%);
• Tampa Bay (+59%);
• Riverside-San-Bernardino-Ontario, CA (+53%),
• Atlanta: (+52%);
• Chicago: (+51%).

Asking rents for apartments in mid-tier multifamily buildings across the US have soared by 30% from January 2020 through September 2026 — despite declines in 2024 and 2025 in many markets (blue in the chart), according to data from the Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI). Many mid-sized markets had bigger increases, some over 50% and a few over 60%. Among the largest MSAs, the biggest increases occurred in:

• Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach (+47%);
• Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA (+46%);
• Tampa Bay Area (+41%);
• Cincinnati (+38%);
• Louis (+38%).

Note how rent increases re-accelerated in recent months.

Rents are re-accelerating. The biggest portion of the spikes in asking rents occurred in 2021 and 2022. In 2023 through 2025, rent growth slowed in most markets, and in quite a few markets, asking rents, especially for multifamily, declined.

But since early 2026, the pace of increases of asking rents has accelerated again, both multifamily and single-family rentals.

Single-family asking rents rose by 3.2% year-over-year, the biggest year-over-year increase since January 2025, according to data from the ZORI (red in the chart below).

Multifamily asking rents also accelerated and were up by 2.4% year-over-year, the biggest increase since June 2023 (blue).

The current year-over-year rent increases are still lower than those in the years before the pandemic, when mid-tier asking rents increased by roughly 4% year-over-year.

The gap between single-family rents and multifamily rents had widened in a stunning manner, reaching nearly 29% in June at the national level, more than double the gap before the pandemic (between 10% and 14%).

By September, the gap narrowed a hair as multifamily rents rose more quickly than single-family rents over the past few months.

Asking rents are what landlords want to get for their vacant units, and no one actually pays them as they’re for vacant units listed for rent. They don’t include incentives, such as two months free rent. Asking rents do not track actual rents that tenants actually pay over time.

Actual rents paid by renewing tenants and new tenants are tracked by the Consumer Price Index for rent (CPI Rent of Primary Residence), based on a large sample of rental units by address, where tenants come and go over time.

But it consolidates multifamily and single-family rents into one data set. It also spans the spectrum, from high-end rentals to low-end rentals, whereas the measure of asking rents here is for the mid-tier.

Actual rents move more slowly than asking rents, which can change with the collective whim of landlords overnight, without tenants actually paying more. But over time, as the vacant units find takers, asking rents filter into actual rents.

The CPI for rent soared less dramatically in 2021 and 2022, topping out with a year-over-year increase of just under 9%. The year-over-year increase bottomed out in March 2026 at 2.6%. In September, the CPI rent rose by 2.8%. These increases are below the rate of increases before the pandemic (in the 3.5% to 4.0% range).

But the accelerating asking rents (see above) indicate that CPI for rent will also begin to accelerate with some lag:

22 large markets scattered around the US.

Below are 22 of the largest metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), showing asking rents for single-family rentals (red) and asking rents for multifamily properties (blue), per the seasonally adjusted ZORI.

New York City metro:

• Multifamily ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.4%
  • Year-over-year: +4.3%
  • Since Jan 2020: +36%
• Single-family ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.4%
  • Year-over-year: +4.3%
  • Since Jan 2020: +47%

The New York metro is the only market here where single-family and multifamily rents have been increasing in near-lockstep – likely driven by the soaring rents in New York City’s huge multifamily market.

In the remaining 21 markets here, single-family rents and multifamily rents have diverged, and often dramatically.

Los Angeles metro:

• Multifamily ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.2%
  • Year-over-year: +1.4%
  • Since Jan 2020: +23%
• Single-family ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.3%
  • Year-over-year: +2.6%
  • Since Jan 2020: +42%

Chicago metro:

• Multifamily ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.3%
  • Year-over-year: +4.9%
  • Since Jan 2020: +37%
• Single-family ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.3%
  • Year-over-year: +4.2%
  • Since Jan 2020: +51%

Dallas-Fort Worth metro:

• Multifamily ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.2%
  • Year-over-year: +0.2%
  • Since Jan 2020: +18%
• Single-family ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.3%
  • Year-over-year: +2.0%
  • Since Jan 2020: +39%

Multifamily rents dropped by 5% from the peak in mid-2022 through June, but since then began to edge up again.

Houston metro:

• Multifamily ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: -0.1%
  • Year-over-year: -0.5%
  • Since Jan 2020: +14%
• Single-family ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: 0%
  • Year-over-year: +1.0%
  • Since Jan 2020: +38%

Washington D.C. metro:

• Multifamily ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.5%
  • Year-over-year: +0.7%
  • Since Jan 2020: +17%
• Single-family ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.2%
  • Year-over-year: +2.7%
  • Since Jan 2020: +38%

Atlanta metro:

• Multifamily ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.3%
  • Year-over-year: +1.4%
  • Since Jan 2020: +23%
• Single-family ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.4%
  • Year-over-year: +2.6%
  • Since Jan 2020: +52%

Miami metro:

• Multifamily ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.3%
  • Year-over-year: +1.7%
  • Since Jan 2020: +47%
• Single-family ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.5%
  • Year-over-year: +3.2%
  • Since Jan 2020: +65%

Philadelphia metro:

• Multifamily ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.2%
  • Year-over-year: +2.9%
  • Since Jan 2020: +28%
• Single-family ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.1%
  • Year-over-year: +3.2%
  • Since Jan 2020: +50%

Phoenix metro:

• Multifamily ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.2%
  • Year-over-year: +0.6%
  • Since Jan 2020: +24%
• Single-family ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.2%
  • Year-over-year: +1.8%
  • Since Jan 2020: +45%

Boston metro:

• Multifamily ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.3%
  • Year-over-year: +2.6%
  • Since Jan 2020: +30%
• Single-family ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.1%
  • Year-over-year: +2.4%
  • Since Jan 2020: +38%

Riverside-San Bernardino metro:

• Multifamily ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.4%
  • Year-over-year: +3.1%
  • Since Jan 2020: +46%
• Single-family ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.1%
  • Year-over-year: +2.8%
  • Since Jan 2020: +5.%

San Francisco Bay Area:

• Multifamily ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +1.5%
  • Year-over-year: +12.7%
  • Since Jan 2020: +18%
• Single-family ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.7%
  • Year-over-year: +6.7%
  • Since Jan 2020: +29%

AI mania has infected everything in the City of San Francisco, including the rental market, and rents are spiking massively. But this is the MSA of the Bay Area, which includes Oakland and many other cities where rents are not spiking, thereby watering down the rent spikes for the entire Bay Area:

Seattle metro:

• Multifamily ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.3%
  • Year-over-year: +1.5%
  • Since Jan 2020: +20%
• Single-family ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.3%
  • Year-over-year: +3.6%
  • Since Jan 2020: +39%

Minneapolis-St. Paul metro:

• Multifamily ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.3%
  • Year-over-year: +3.2%
  • Since Jan 2020: +16%
• Single-family ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.1%
  • Year-over-year: +3.6%
  • Since Jan 2020: +36%

Tampa Bay Area:

• Multifamily ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.4%
  • Year-over-year: -0.2%
  • Since Jan 2020: +41%
• Single-family ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.3%
  • Year-over-year: +1.9%
  • Since Jan 2020: +59%

Denver metro:

• Multifamily ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.2%
  • Year-over-year: -0.8%
  • Since Jan 2020: +12%
• Single-family ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.1%
  • Year-over-year: +1.6%
  • Since Jan 2020: +33%

Charlotte metro:

• Multifamily ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.3%
  • Year-over-year: +0.4%
  • Since Jan 2020: +22%
• Single-family ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.5%
  • Year-over-year: +3.3%
  • Since Jan 2020: +50%

St. Louis metro:

• Multifamily ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.4%
  • Year-over-year: +3.8%
  • Since Jan 2020: +38%
• Single-family ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.6%
  • Year-over-year: +4.6%
  • Since Jan 2020: +53%

Austin metro:

• Multifamily ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.4%
  • Year-over-year: +0.3%
  • Since Jan 2020: +8%
• Single-family ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.4%
  • Year-over-year: +1.8%
  • Since Jan 2020: +28%

Multifamily rents have dropped by 16% from the peak in mid-2022, amid an onslaught of supply. But they have now stabilized. Single-family rents eased only gradually, and over the past few months ticked up again.

Portland metro:

• Multifamily ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.3%
  • Year-over-year: +0.8%
  • Since Jan 2020: +19%
• Single-family ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.2%
  • Year-over-year: +1.6%
  • Since Jan 2020: +35%

Cincinnati metro:

• Multifamily ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.2%
  • Year-over-year: +2.2%
  • Since Jan 2020: +38%
• Single-family ZORI:
  • Month-to-month: +0.4%
  • Year-over-year: +4.1%
  • Since Jan 2020: +54%

Who owns the rental housing stock?

There are about 50 million rental units of all types in the US. About 15 million of them, or about 30%, are single-family rentals (SFRs). And about 35 million are multifamily rentals.

About 82% of those 15 million SFRs are owned by mom-and-pop landlords with 1-10 rentals. The remaining 18% are owned by larger landlords. Landlords with 100 or more SFRs, including a handful of giant landlords, own about 6.3% of the SFRs (data via John Burns Research and Consulting; see my analysis of who owns the US rental housing stock).

The multifamily market is dominated by big institutional landlords. Since 2022, numerous big multifamily landlords have defaulted on their debts as they’d cash-out refinanced the properties at massively inflated valuations before or during the pandemic, at very low interest rates, and those valuations don’t pencil out with higher interest rates of today.

Landlords defaulted on interest payments if they had floating-rate loans, and they defaulted because the post-pandemic valuations had plunged far below the loan value, and they defaulted on the balloon payments when they came due because they could not refinance the property with a big enough a loan to pay off the inflated existing loan. And rental income was insufficient to fund the higher interest expenses and operating costs. Lenders seized the properties or sold the loans to investors that then seized the properties. This stuff is still going on. We’ve discussed some of those deals here from time to time.

The delinquency rate for multifamily Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities (CMBS) surged to 8% in September (data from Trepp):

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