Rents for single-family homes rose on a yearly basis in December at less than half the pace they increased over the preceding 12 months, capping a year of sluggish rent growth for real estate investors nationwide.

After climbing just 1.1% over the year in November, single-family rents notched 1.2% annual growth in December, compared to 2.5% a year ago, according to a newly published update to Cotality’s Single-Family Rental Index.

Among the 50 largest U.S. metros analyzed by the real estate market analytics firm, 35 posted slower year-over-year rent growth, while 18 registered annual declines. Eight cities with declines were in Florida, while three were in Texas and two in Arizona.

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“Overall rent growth remains near 15-year lows,” said Molly Boesel, senior principal economist at Cotality, commenting on the monthly figures in Thursday’s report. She noted how “the high-priced tier continues to track close to its long-run trend, underscoring the K-shaped dynamics shaping today’s housing market.”

Lower-priced rentals have prices 75% or below the regional median, while units with lower-middle and higher-middle prices fall between 75% and 100% or 100% and 125% of the regional median, respectively. Higher-priced rentals match or exceed the regional median.

After posting 2.8% yearly growth a year ago, lower-priced rentals registered a 0.3% decline in annual rent growth in December. Having posted no annual rent growth in November, year-end figures suggest accelerated softening across the least expensive share of rentals.

Higher-end units continue to show the most resilience, with rents increasing 2.2% over the year in December, down from 2.8% a year ago but slightly higher than the 2% annual growth notched in November.

In some metros, said Boesel, “persistently high multifamily vacancy rates are giving renters meaningful leverage, softening rents, even in the single-family segment.”

Listings platform Realtor.com released a separate report this week indicating that vacancy rates nationwide were 7.6% in 2025, up from 7.2% in 2024. That steady rise has consistently pushed down asking rents for units of all sizes, posting their 29th consecutive month of year-over-year declines in January.

According to Cotality, Chicago continued to lead U.S. metros with the strongest rent growth, as it has in recent months, rising 4.8% on an annual basis in December after 4.2% annual growth in November. Philadelphia and Detroit followed with 3.3% and 3.1% growth.

As it did through most of 2025, Dallas persisted in posting the slowest annual rent growth among the 50 largest metros, declining 1.2% over the year in December. Single-family rents in Miami decreased 1% and Houston rents slipped 0.3%.