Near-Record Number of Homeowners Listing Unsold Homes as Rentals

Seattle, WA, March 11, 2026-A near-record (and rising) share of homeowners are turning their unsold properties into rentals, according to new research from Zillow. Properties owned by these "accidental landlords" account for more of the listed rental stock than at any time since 2022-and the trend may not have peaked yet.

Two-thirds of homes listed for rent on Zillow were recently listed for sale, according to a new Zillow analysis. Texas and Florida markets, along with Denver, Portland and Nashville, have the largest share of these accidental-landlord properties.

"As the market continues to rebalance, sellers are facing a different reality than they did a few years ago," said Kara Ng, senior economist at Zillow. "Bargaining power is tilting toward buyers and homes are taking longer to sell, making renting out a property one way to buy time rather than compete aggressively on price. After all, today's sellers are rarely forced to sell, and it appears they are often unwilling to budge off of what their heart says their home is worth."

Because Zillow is a destination for both for-sale and rental listings, the platform offers a unique view into how unsold homes are increasingly reentering the market as rentals. The current record was set in November 2022, when 2.4% of the rental stock on Zillow was made up of homes that owners were unable to sell. Mortgage rates had more than doubled since the start of that year, skyrocketing from 3.11% to 7.08% by the end of October. Sellers were scrambling to adjust to a shocking new market paradigm in which buyer purchasing power had been nearly halved in mere months. Today's trend is choice-driven rather than shock-driven.

The metric is highly seasonal and typically peaks in November, when would-be sellers lose hope at the close of home shopping season. Zillow's most recent data from October 2025 matches the past October high of 2.3% from 2022, and the past record high of 2.4% from November 2022 is well within reach.

Major metros with the highest share of accidental landlords tend to be places where there's less competition among homebuyers. These places trend toward being more buyer-friendly on Zillow's Market Heat Index, for-sale listings generally linger longer and price cuts are more common. Of the top 10, seven are in Texas or Florida.