Zumper’s 2024 Annual Rent Report provides a comprehensive analysis of the past year, drawing on insights from our latest Annual Renter Survey, 12 months of detailed rent data (including December’s figures), and economic trends. This wealth of information offers a clear picture of 2024’s rental market while setting the stage for what to expect in 2025.
Download Zumper’s December 2024 National Rent Report data below:
Key Themes and Findings
2024 The Year of the Renter: 2024 marked a transformative year for the rental market, with record-high levels of supply coming online. Cities like Austin, Phoenix, and Miami—pandemic hotspots that experienced major rent increases in previous years—saw prices stabilize or decline. Renters had unprecedented bargaining power as property owners offered concessions like months of free rent and waived deposits and fees to fill vacancies.
National Rent Trends: Zumper’s National Rent Index demonstrated resilience despite the historic influx of supply. The national rates ended the year with the median price of one-bedroom units up 2.8% annually to $1,538, while two-bedrooms grew 3.2% to $1,906.
Uncertainty surrounding future inflation remains high: Although the Federal Reserve reduced its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point in September 2024, the implementation of new tariff policies in 2025, continued positive annual growth rates in Zumper’s National Rent Index, and persistently high mortgage rates are likely to complicate efforts to further interest rate reductions, as inflationary pressures persist.
Rent is a growing strain on renters’ budgets: Cost remained the most critical factor influencing renters’ decisions about where to live and the financial burden of rent continues to grow. In 2024, renters spent an average of 42% of their pre-tax income on housing, up from 35% in 2021, even though a majority believed rent should be capped at 30% of income. Satisfaction is declining, with only 50% feeling that they have a good deal on rent, down from 53% last year.
Homeownership as part of the American dream continues to decline: 32% of renters report no longer seeing homeownership as part of the American dream, which is up from 27% in 2021. Instead, 61% of renters now view being untethered from homeownership as the new American Dream, which is up from 53% in 2023.
Renters are feeling better about the economy but are still concerned about inflation and cost of living: 18% of renters reported feeling confident in the economy, which is up from 11% in 2022. A significant 82% of renters felt secure in their current jobs this year. Additionally, while 67% of renters believe that the nation is in a recession, this survey marks a notable decrease from the 77% of renters who believed that in 2022 and 72% in 2023. Among those who perceive a recession this year, 48% attributed it primarily to high inflation, followed closely by 41% who cited the rising cost of living as the main driver.
Republican renters were generally more concerned about the economy than Democrats: Only 12% of Republican renters were confident in the economy, a sharp contrast to the 25% of Democratic renters who felt confident. Going hand in hand with that, 75% of Republican renters also think we are currently in a recession, while 61% of Democratic renters think so.
Chicago was the top city that surveyed renters reported that they were planning to move to. Followed by Portland, Philadelphia, San Diego, and Los Angeles.
Regional Trends
Northeast & Midwest: Limited supply and steady demand pushed rent prices up in many Northeast and Midwest cities. New York one-bedroom rent reached a record high of $4,500 this year.
California: Tech hubs like San Francisco and San Jose saw rent increase due to growing demand, while pandemic hotspots like San Diego experienced declines as renters sought affordability elsewhere. Los Angeles has seen full recovery from any pandemic losses as one-bedroom rent in this city reached an all-time high of $2,500 this year.
Florida, Texas, Arizona, North Carolina: Large inventory growth led to stabilizing or declining rents. However, these decreases were fairly modest, underscoring strong housing demand.
2025 Forecast
Modest national growth rates: Zumper’s National Rent Index should demonstrate modest growth rates in 2025 as supply levels across the nation are expected to remain high.
AI in Renting: Nearly half of surveyed renters were open to using AI tools like ZumperGPT to search for rentals. Virtual tours and AI-powered leasing assistants are expected to grow in popularity as 1 in 5 renters reported signing a lease based solely on a virtual tour this year.
Green Living: With 71% of renters valuing eco-friendly features, properties equipped with green innovations such as solar power and smart home technology are poised to become increasingly appealing to prospective tenants.
About
For Zumper’s 2024 Annual Renter Survey, 7,205 renters aged 18+ from all 50 U.S. states as well as Washington, D.C. were surveyed from July through August 2024. The survey was sent to Zumper and PadMapper users based in the United States and shared among their family and friends. All responses were gathered online, with a monetary incentive of the chance to win one of four $500 cash prizes.
The rental data for Zumper’s National Rent Report analyzes over one million active listings across the country every month. Listings are aggregated to calculate median asking rents for the top 100 most populous cities and therefore provides a comprehensive view of the current state of the market. Any data that is reported does not include short term listings. View our full methodology here.
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