A wave of accidental landlords has helped cool rents – but kept would‑be sellers off the market
Homeowners who could not make the numbers work to sell in 2025 increasingly chose to rent out their properties instead, adding an unexpected layer of supply to the US rental market even as for‑sale inventory stayed tight.
That shift, combined with a construction boom in multifamily, helped slow annual rent growth to 1.9% in February, according to Zillow’s latest rental report.
For renters, the timing proved favorable. The typical US asking rent stood at $1,895, and nearly 40% of listings on Zillow came with concessions such as a free month or waived fees, the company reported.
For homebuyers and mortgage brokers, however, every owner who stayed put and rented out a listing represented one less seller returning much‑needed stock to a chronically undersupplied purchase market.
“Renters are gaining leverage, and that advantage is expected to continue as new supply comes online,” Orphe Divounguy, senior economist at Zillow, said in the report.
“An increase in both apartment buildings and single‑family rentals means landlords must continue to compete more on price and incentives.”
The single‑family segment, where many accidental landlords landed, also cooled.
Single‑family rents rose 2.6% year over year in February – the slowest annual increase since Zillow began tracking in 2015, and well below the roughly 4.4% average seen before the pandemic.
Zillow estimated that 2.3% of homes listed for rent nationally have recently been for sale, a near‑record share of so‑called accidental landlords, with Texas and Florida metros among the standouts.
Yet affordability pressures persisted. By Zillow’s math, a household needed roughly $76,000 in annual income to comfortably afford the typical rent, about 35% more than before COVID‑19.
At the national median income, new renters devoted about 26.3% of their paychecks to rent, down only slightly from a year earlier.
Cooling rents in oversupplied metros
The adjustment showed up most clearly in markets flooded with new product and accidental landlords.
In Austin, typical rent was $1,563, down 2.4% year over year, roughly $40 less than a year earlier.
San Antonio’s $1,392 average rent was down about $25 from 2025, while Tampa’s $1,976 typical rent and Denver’s $1,844 were each lower by about $20 to $30.
Uneven relief and fewer resale listings
Some tighter markets still saw brisk rent gains.
San Francisco’s typical rent of $3,103 was up 6.3% year over year, or roughly $180.
Chicago’s $2,132 average rent climbed about $110 over the past 12 months, while Virginia Beach’s $1,787 rent rose close to $100.
Boston, at $3,098, was up around $60. Concessions there have become more common, with broker Shant Banosian of Guaranteed Rate warning that “landlords have been slow to adjust down as demand has reduced.”
For brokers and lenders, the rise of accidental landlords underlines a paradox: more rental options and softer rent growth, but fewer existing‑home listings cycling back into the purchase market.
Until more of those owners decide selling beats holding, the same force that eased rent growth will continue to limit the fresh inventory that homebuyers and the mortgage industry need for a healthier market.
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