Priced-Out Buyers Turn to Renting: Typical U.S. Rent Hits $1,932, Up 2.7% in Fastest Rise Since April 2025
SEATTLE, Oct. 11 — The typical U.S. rent rose 2.7% from a year earlier to $1,932 a month on the Zillow Observed Rent Index, the biggest annual gain since April 2025, according to Zillow's September Market Report. Annual rent growth has accelerated every month since April and is widespread, rising for both multifamily and single-family homes.
Zillow ties the acceleration directly to the for-sale market's retreat: with the 30-year mortgage average at 7.28% and the typical payment up 6.7% year over year, would-be buyers are postponing purchases and extending their renting years, lifting rental demand. Over the same period, newly pending sales fell 8.5% and closings 2.5% year over year — the housing cost pressure has not disappeared, it has moved from mortgage payments to rent checks.
For households weighing another year of renting, a near-3% annual rent rise is itself a rising holding cost. Zillow and Redfin both publish metro-level rent and price breakdowns, which families can check for their own city before deciding whether to keep waiting or lock a rate.
One supply-side variable is the delivery pace of multifamily construction: apartment projects started in the peak building years are now completing, creating pockets of softness in some Sun Belt metros that run against the national rent rise. The national average hides this split — when checking a local market, read median rent and vacancy together, since either figure alone can mislead.
Source: Zillow September Market Report, rental section, released Oct. 6.
Photo: Apartment Building — Jason Pratt / CC BY 2.0 (via Openverse)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: Apartment Building — Jason Pratt / CC BY 2.0 (via Openverse)
