Most U.S. households cannot afford a home above $300,000:

The median age of first-time home buyers has increased from 30 in 2008 to 40 today:

The median age of all home buyers is now 59 years old, up from 31 in 1981:

Number of offers received per property sold:

The largest age group is around 33 years old. These used to be home buyers, but many have shifted to renters looking for a nicer rental property.

Homes sold per real estate agent:

US homes are getting smaller. Median size of new single-family homes declining:

Structural decline in the share of the US population moving to a new address:

Trend decline in the percentage of renters moving to new apartments or houses:

The average family size in the US has declined from 3.3 in 1960 to 2.5 by 2024:

Home price to rent ratio remains elevated:

Housing construction costs remain high:

Source: Apollo

Eight of the top 10 job growth markets had greater growth rates than one year ago, led by Myrtle Beach with a 250-bps increase. 

Source: RealPage

The Rentometer Single-Family Report focuses on median advertised rents for three-bedroom single-family homes, the most common single-family rental configuration – a sector that houses approximately 41% of the U.S. renter population.

After years of robust increases, rental growth slowed to a crawl in 2025. After climbing 7.8% in 2022 and nearly 3% in 2023, annual rent growth cooled to 2.4% in 2024 and fell below 0.25% in 2025, reflecting a market grappling with elevated vacancies, slowing demand and affordability pressures.

The median rent for a three-bedroom single-family home in the United States was $2,100 in 2025, remaining largely unchanged from the prior year.

Single-family vacancy rates reached 6.3% in early 2025, the highest level in nearly a decade.

A large wave of new apartment supply delivered over the past two years has provided a viable alternative for renters who might otherwise choose single-family homes, particularly those facing affordability pressures.

According to Zillow survey data, only about half of recent renters who moved out of a single-family detached rental transitioned into another single-family home, with the remainder shifting to apartments or other housing types.

Source: Rentometer

Highlights from Zumper’s Annual State Of Renting Survey & Report:

• About 60% renters now spend 40% of their income on rent. Renters paying more than 28% of their income on rent has long been the benchmark for what owners, renters and lenders consider unaffordable.

• About 1 in 5 renters cite lowering the cost of living as one of the main drivers of a move this year, up from about 1 in 8 in 2021.

• Due to rising costs, only 66% of renters see buying a home as part of their long-term plans, down from 73% in 2021 (they consider themselves “forever renters”)

• The top five destinations renters relocated to in 2025 were: Los Angeles, Atlanta, New York City, San Francisco, and Charlotte showing that renters are moving to job-dense cities.
• Only 12% of renters now work exclusively from home, half the rate seen during 2021-2023.

• 63% of respondents report a commute time of 30 minutes or less, and commute was the third most cited reason for deciding where to live.
• 82% of renters say they are unsure or not confident in the economy, and 66% believe the U.S. is currently in a recession. 
• AI usage during the rental search has more than doubled, with nearly 10% of renters saying they used tools like ChatGPT, rising as high as 15% in major coastal cities.

• The share of renters living with non-family, non-partner roommates continued its steady decline, dropping to 19% in 2025 from about 22% in 2022. This trend mirrors a broader cultural shift: singlehood in the U.S. has been rising for decades, reshaping household formation and what adulthood looks like for many Americans.

• About 50% of renters are pet owners
• Access to outdoor space has become increasingly important, with nearly 20% of renters naming it a top-three priority when choosing where to live, up from 16.5% in 2023.

Source: Zumper

Apartment demand fell by 40,400 units in Q4 2025, bringing annual demand down to only 365,900 units. New supply also continued to decline, (89,400 in Q4 and 409,500 year-over-year), but it was not as rapid as the decline in demand.

Rent prices fell 1.7% in Q4. While it’s common for operators to cut rents in the slower leasing season, this latest decline was roughly twice as deep as the cuts the market has seen in 4th quarters during the past five years.

Over 23% of apartments were offering concessions as of Q4, and the average concession was 7%. As operators focus on filling units in the coming months, concession utilization could become even more prevalent, making true rent growth harder to realize until discounts burn off.

Source: RealPage

Each year, Allied Van Lines’ U.S. Migration Report analyzes where people are moving to in the United States. Migration trends show steady movement toward midsize cities, particularly in the lower-cost-of-living Southeastern states.

In spite of the unprecedented shifts to the U.S. migration map over the last few years, one thing remains the same: Americans prefer to move later in the week and during the summer to minimize the disruption to their daily lives. 

Source: Allied Van Lines

U-Haul ranks states by their net gain (or loss) of customers who rented a one-way truck or moving containers in one state and dropped off their equipment in another state. It’s compiled from over 2.5 million annual one-way transactions across the U.S. and Canada.

Sunshine and warm weather remain appealing to the moving public, based on the top 10 growth states. Conversely, eight of the bottom 10 states are northern states. 

Blue-to-red state migration, a hotly debated political topic that became more pronounced after the pandemic of 2020, continues to be a discernable trend. Seven of the top 10 growth states currently feature Republican governors, and nine of those states went red in the last presidential election. Conversely, nine of the bottom 10 growth states feature Democrat governors, and seven of those states went blue in the last presidential election.

The number in (parentheses) shows where the state ranked last year:

Source: U-Haul

Condo owners are struggling with the worst market in more than 10 years. Prices for U.S. condominiums posted their biggest annual decline since 2012.

The condo market’s softness reflects ways the housing market and buyer preferences are evolving. Many condo buildings are located in urban downtowns, which are less attractive than they used to be for people who now work from home at least part-time. Condos are popular in second-home markets, which have suffered from a slowdown in demand.

Rising homeowner-association fees due to higher insurance premiums and maintenance costs are also making condominium purchases less affordable. Another challenge for condo owners is that it can be difficult for buyers to get mortgages for units in buildings that need major repairs or don’t have enough property insurance.

Source: Wall Street Journal

The top inbound states of 2025 were:   

1. Oregon  
2. West Virginia  
3. South Carolina  
4. Delaware  
5. Minnesota  
6. Idaho  
7. North Carolina   
8. Arkansas   
9. Alabama  
10. Nevada  

The top outbound states for 2025 were: 

1. New Jersey 
2. New York  
3. California 
4. North Dakota 
5. Colorado 
6. Mississippi 
7. Massachusetts 

Couple Key Notes:

Major southern migration magnets like Texas and Florida — historically powerhouse inbound destinations — are now experiencing balanced migration patterns, reflecting how rising housing costs are beginning to constrain even traditionally attractive regions.

A broad migration shift toward smaller cities and towns is redefining American relocation patterns.

Source: United Van Lines

In the third quarter of 2025, less than 50,000 units were delivered across southeast apartment markets. That was well behind the peak delivery load of more than 65,000 units per quarter during 2024.

The volume currently underway has also fallen, and by Q3 2027, annual supply in the southeast will move below pre-COVID averages, at about 24,000 units.

Source: RealPage