Rental Demand Rises as Homeownership Becomes Financially Challenging

Seattle, WA, October 20, 2026—Housing demand doesn’t disappear when buying becomes harder financially. Instead, it finds a new home in the rental market. The Zillow Observed Renter Demand Index (ZORDI), an indicator of rental demand, rose 19.2% year over year as elevated borrowing costs push would-be buyers to rent instead, according to the latest Zillow Rental Market Report.

Rents are climbing, but buying costs are climbing faster. Typical rent is $1,932 a month, up 2.7% from a year ago. By comparison, the typical new home buyer’s monthly payment has risen 5%, to $3,037, nearly double the pace.

“Elevated mortgage rates have pushed home shoppers straight into the arms of rentals,” said Kara Ng, senior economist at Zillow. “Homeownership has long been a way for families to build wealth, but with the rise in borrowing costs, we’re seeing the rise of the deliberate renter, someone who chooses to bank the difference between a buyer’s monthly payment and rent, and build wealth without owning a home.”

And for many home shoppers, what they still want is a house. ZORDI shows demand for single-family rentals up 21.6% from a year ago, more than double the 10.1% rise for multifamily rentals. At a typical rent of $2,266, renting a house offers the space and lifestyle shoppers want without a down payment or the hidden costs of owning, and it costs $771 less each month than a buyer’s monthly payment.

For shoppers weighing renting against buying, Zillow’s rent vs. buy research breaks down the break-even timeline by metro, that timeline being the number of years a household would need to own before buying comes out ahead.

Rental demand rose the most in San Jose, where ZORDI is up 82.5% from a year ago, followed by San Francisco (66.9%), Austin (49.3%), Miami (48.9%) and Phoenix (43%).

Rent growth over the past year was also fastest in California’s Bay Area, where typical rent is up 11.8% in San Francisco and 8.3% in San Jose. In the other markets where demand has jumped the most, rent growth was more moderate, at 0.7% in Austin, 1.8% in Miami and 1% in Phoenix, as new construction has kept supply in step with demand.

Not every market is following the national trend. ZORDI is down year over year in markets that include Louisville (down 6.2%), Baltimore (-6.1%), Washington, D.C. (-5.6%) and Cleveland (-5.5%).