If you searched for a single-family rental home (SFR) pre-pandemic, you probably found prices were slightly higher than those of apartments—but still in the same financial neighborhood. As late as September 2021, the median asking rent for a single-family rental in the U.S. was $1,759 per month, while the median asking rent for an apartment was $1,495. The latest Dwellsy data drop suggests those days are over.
Fast-forward a year, and you’ll find that SFR rent is no longer in the same ballpark as apartments. It isn’t even in the same league. According to brand-new data from Dwellsy—the largest home rental listing platform in the country—SFR properties are now 39 percent more expensive than apartments nationwide. In September 2022, the median asking rent for single-family homes had risen to $2,330 per month, while apartments were $1,676.
“In the past year, SFRs have driven the overall rental market, with rents for that property type up more than 32.5 percent,” says Jonas Bordo, CEO and cofounder of Dwellsy. “Apartment rent, in contrast, is up just 12.1 percent.”
Bordo says that many of the amenities typically found in single-family homes—like privacy from neighbors, more spacious floor plans, yards, storage space, and off-street parking—account for their rise in popularity.
“As the pandemic sparked widespread lifestyle changes like social distancing and working from home, SFRs gained popularity,” he explains. “It didn’t take long for demand to far exceed supply.”
Dwellsy regularly mines its 13+ million verified residential rental listings for statistics and data. Because the rental platform allows landlords to post listings free of charge, it has a pool of data that’s more diverse—and more representative of the true rental landscape—than that of pay-to-play listing services. Each month, Dwellsy breaks this data down regionally across the U.S. so that renters and landlords can see up-to-date trends in rental housing and current affordability in their area.
Bordo believes that providing accurate and timely rental data is a crucial service for renters, landlords, cities, and organizations connected to the rental industry. Since it’s estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau that renters make up 36 percent of all households, a large portion of the population needs this data to make informed decisions, plan for the future, and respond to the needs of the marketplace.
Here, he shares the ten most expensive cities in America for single-family rental homes:
|
Rank |
Metropolitan Statistical Area |
Median Single-Family Home Asking Rent, September 2022 |
Change in Single-Family Home Asking Rent Since September 2021 |
|
1 |
San Jose, CA |
$3,600 |
+ 9.1% |
|
1 |
Salinas, CA |
$3,600 |
- 6.5% |
|
3 |
San Francisco, CA |
$3,500 |
+ 16.7% |
|
3 |
Santa Barbara, CA |
$3,500 |
- 0.7% |
|
5 |
Los Angeles, CA |
$3,495 |
+ 16.5% |
|
6 |
San Diego, CA |
$3,234 |
+ 8.0% |
|
7 |
Austin, TX |
$3,200 |
+ 45.5% |
|
8 |
Oxnard/Thousand Oaks, CA |
$3,195 |
+ 6.5% |
|
9 |
Seattle, WA |
$3,020 |
+ 16.4% |
|
10 |
Napa, CA |
$3,000 |
+ 17.4% |
“If you’re determined to rent a home right now as opposed to an apartment, be prepared to pay for it,” concludes Bordo. “Bur while SFR rents are growing at a faster rate than apartment rents, there is a bit of good news. September was the first time in almost a year that we saw month-over-month median asking rents decrease, with a decline of 0.7 percent (or $15) across all property types. I expect this slowdown in the pace of rent inflation to continue.”
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About Jonas Bordo:
Jonas Bordo is the CEO and cofounder of Dwellsy, the free residential rental marketplace that makes it easy to find hard-to-find rentals. Prior to cofounding Dwellsy, Jonas was a senior executive at several leading real estate firms including Essex Property Trust and BentallGreenOak, and was with the Boston Consulting Group after graduating with his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Jonas has had the good fortune to build, rebuild, and lead amazing teams across the multifamily and commercial real estate operational and strategic spectrum; orchestrate the sale of several businesses; develop a strategic plan for one of the world’s leading symphony orchestras; implement a Toyota production system; and create more than 40 brands. He is husband to Rosalind and father to Bailey, Zach, and Thea; an avid hiker; a lifelong learner; and a maker of things, sometimes out of wood.
About Dwellsy:
Dwellsy is the renter’s marketplace: a comprehensive residential home rentals marketplace based on the radical concept that true, organic search in a free ecosystem creates more value than the pay-to-play model embraced by all of the current rental listing services. Dwellsy has more than 13 million residential rental listings—more than any legacy classifieds site—as well as the most diverse set of listings, including single family rentals, condos, and apartments. Dwellsy’s entirely different approach to residential rental listings focuses on presenting houses and apartments based on features renters need and want, not based on how much landlords pay to show their listings. Dwellsy investors include Frontier Ventures, Ulu Ventures, Blackhorn Ventures, Heroic Ventures, Anne Wojcicki, and the University of Chicago. For more information, please visit our newsroom or find your next home at Dwellsy.com
