Realtor.com® Monthly Rent Report: The Markets Locals Love -- and the Ones Outsiders Are Taking Over

News Corp (NASDAQ:NWS), via Realtor.com, released May 2026 rental trends and 2026 Q1 cross‑market demand data.

Rhea-AI Summary

News Corp (NASDAQ:NWS), via Realtor.com, released May 2026 rental trends and 2026 Q1 cross‑market demand data.

The national median asking rent was $1,686, down 1.5% year-over-year, the 34th straight decline. Las Vegas showed the highest local renter loyalty, while Raleigh drew the most out-of-market interest. San Francisco saw rents rise 1.2% and homeownership increase from 49% to 51.7%.

Argus Jun 16 session

+1.01% close to close Open Argus

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News Market Reaction – NWS

On Jun 16, the day this news came out, NWS closed 1.01% above the previous close.

Data tracked by StockTitan Argus for the Jun 16 session.

Market Context

This announcement details Realtor.com’s cross-market rental demand trends, including a national medi...

Analysis

This announcement details Realtor.com’s cross-market rental demand trends, including a national median asking rent of $1,686 (down 1.5% year over year) and contrasting patterns in markets like Las Vegas, Raleigh, and San Francisco. For NWS, it extends a series of data-driven Realtor.com publications that deepen its housing-market insight offering. Observers may track how repeated reports on rents, migration, and ownership shifts contribute to platform engagement alongside ongoing share repurchases disclosed in recent 8-K filings.

Key Figures

National median asking rent: $1,686 Las Vegas local search share: 70.0% Raleigh outsider demand: 69.1% +5 more

National median asking rent

$1,686

May 2026, down 1.5% year-over-year; 34th consecutive monthly decline

Las Vegas local search share

70.0%

2026 Q1 online rental searches staying within Las Vegas metro

Raleigh outsider demand

69.1%

2026 Q1 rental views coming from outside Raleigh-Cary metro

Detroit outsider demand shift

28.1% to 51.8%

Out-of-market rental demand change between 2020 Q1 and 2026 Q1

San Francisco median rent

$2,883

San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont median asking rent, May 2026, up 1.2% YoY

San Francisco homeownership rate

49% to 51.7%

Increase in homeownership over one year per Housing Vacancies and Homeownership data

Atlanta median rent

$1,555

Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell median asking rent, May 2026, -3.1% YoY

New York median rent

$2,962

New York-Newark-Jersey City median asking rent, May 2026, +2.1% YoY

Historical Context

5 past events · Latest: Jun 11

5 events

1. Jun 11

   Housing pricing data

   24h Move

   -2.5%

   Realtor.com analysis of listing duration, pricing power, and regional conditions.

2. Jun 10

   Luxury market report

   24h Move

   -0.5%

   Realtor.com review of post-pandemic luxury housing trends and thresholds.

3. Jun 09

   Product feature launch

   24h Move

   +0.3%

   Launch of upgraded My Home dashboard and homeowner-focused analytics tools.

4. Jun 03

   Housing trends report

   24h Move

   -1.2%

   Realtor.com May housing report on falling list prices and rising pending sales.

5. Jun 02

   AI search launch

   24h Move

   -1.6%

   Introduction of RealAssist AI home search experience built with Google Cloud.

24h Move is the share-price change in the day after each event; other market factors may also have contributed.

Key Terms

median asking rent, YOY, Housing Vacancies and Homeownership

3 terms

median asking rent financial

"According to the Realtor.com® May Rental Report, while the national median asking rent fell to $1,686..."

Median asking rent is the middle value of rents landlords are listing for available properties, meaning half of listings ask for more and half ask for less; it uses the midpoint rather than an average to avoid distortion by extremely high or low rents. Investors watch it as a quick snapshot of rental market pricing and demand—like checking the middle price on a shopping list—to gauge income potential, vacancy trends and pressure on rental growth.

YOY financial

"Atlanta - Sandy Springs - Roswell, GA | $1,555 | -3.1 % | ..."

Year-over-year (YoY) measures how a financial number—like revenue, profit, or sales—has changed compared with the same period one year earlier, usually expressed as a percentage. It helps investors strip out regular seasonal swings (like holiday sales) by comparing apples to apples, so they can see whether a company’s underlying performance is truly improving, weakening, or holding steady. Think of it as checking this month’s report card against last year’s same month to spot real trends.

Housing Vacancies and Homeownership technical

"San Francisco's homeownership rate climbed from 49% to 51.7% in a single year, according to the most recent Housing Vacancies and Homeownership data."

Housing vacancies measures the share of homes or apartments that are empty and available, while homeownership is the share of houses occupied by their owners rather than renters. Together they tell investors whether people are buying or renting, similar to checking how many seats at a restaurant are filled versus reserved; rising vacancies can signal weaker demand or oversupply, while higher homeownership affects mortgage, construction and consumer-spending risks and opportunities.

AI-generated analysis. How Rhea-AI works. Not financial advice.

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Las Vegas leads in local renter loyalty, Raleigh draws the most outsiders — and in San Francisco, the AI boom may be turning renters into homeowners

AUSTIN, TEXAS, June 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Not every rental market is the same, and new data shows renters are voting with their feet. According to the Realtor.com^® May Rental Report, while the national median asking rent fell to $1,686, down 1.5% year-over-year and marking the 34th consecutive month of declines, Realtor.com^® 2026 Q1 Rental Cross-Market Demand data reveals a sharper story: some cities are holding onto their renters, and others are being defined by the people moving in from somewhere else.

"Local loyalty in markets like Las Vegas reflects renters finding real value close to home as rents soften. In markets like Raleigh, strong job opportunities and relative affordability are pulling in renters from across the country," said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com^®. "Renters and landlords alike can use this cross-market demand data to see which markets are magnets and which are anchors. Combined with pricing trends, these data not only signal how competitive a rental market is, they show whether that rental demand is homegrown or coming from outside of the market."

Where Renters Are Staying
Las Vegas leads the nation in local renter loyalty. In 2026 Q1, 70% of online rental searches by Las Vegas residents stayed within the metro, the highest rate among the 50 largest markets. Austin, San Antonio, Houston, and San Diego round out the top five. These five markets stand out as renter-friendly destinations where softening rents, higher vacancy rates, strong job markets, and warm weather combine to give residents little reason to look elsewhere.

Local loyalty has also grown significantly in several markets since 2020. Houston's retention rate rose 11 percentage points over six years, from 53.3% to 64.6%. Kansas City, Baltimore, and Cincinnati show the same trajectory.

Rental Markets Loved by Locals

Market	2026 Q1 Traffic to:		2020 Q1 Traffic to:
	Local market	Out-of-metro market	Local market	Out-of-metro market
Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV	70.0 %	30.0 %	75.3 %	24.7 %
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX	66.7 %	33.3 %	64.4 %	35.7 %
San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX	65.1 %	34.9 %	69.6 %	30.4 %
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	64.6 %	35.4 %	53.3 %	46.8 %
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	64.3 %	35.7 %	62.0 %	38.0 %

Where Non-Local Demand Dominates
Raleigh attracted the highest share of out-of-market rental demand in 2026 Q1, with 69.1% of rental views coming from outside the metro. Richmond, Hartford, Providence, and Baltimore draw heavily from renters leaving New York, Boston, and Washington, D.C., attracted by more affordable rents and strong job markets in healthcare, financial services, and tech.

Detroit saw the most dramatic shift over time, with out-of-market rental demand nearly doubling between 2020 Q1 and 2026 Q1, rising from 28.1% to 51.8%.

Rental Markets Dominated Most by Outsiders

Market	2026 Q1 Traffic from:		2020 Q1 Traffic from:
	Out-of-market renters	Local residents	Out-of-market renters	Local residents
Raleigh-Cary, NC	69.1 %	30.9 %	59.0 %	41.0 %
Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	68.6 %	31.4 %	48.6 %	51.4 %
Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	65.7 %	34.3 %	52.8 %	47.2 %
Richmond, VA	64.7 %	35.3 %	52.5 %	47.5 %
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	64.4 %	35.6 %	48.6 %	51.4 %

Why San Francisco Is Different
San Francisco defies both patterns. Rents there rose 1.2% year-over-year in May, the opposite of the national trend. Local loyalty rose from 44.0% in 2020 Q1 to 55.0% in 2026 Q1, while out-of-market demand to San Francisco climbed from 43.1% to 64.1% over the same period.

Meanwhile, data shows fewer San Francisco residents are shopping for rentals overall. The explanation may lie outside the rental market entirely. San Francisco's homeownership rate climbed from 49% to 51.7% in a single year, according to the most recent Housing Vacancies and Homeownership data. The AI and tech hiring boom appears to be converting renters into owners, shrinking the pool of people shopping for rentals.

"Two things appear to be happening in San Francisco's rental market," said Jiayi Xu, economist at Realtor.com^®. "First, rising wealth tied to the AI boom may be enabling more renters to transition into homeownership, pulling them out of the rental search pool altogether. Second, the renters who remain are showing more settled behavior — less likely to be browsing other markets, and more focused on staying put. The post-pandemic reshuffling, it seems, has run its course."

Appendix: Rental Data – 50 Largest Metropolitan Areas – May 2026

Market	Median Asking Rent	YOY	Where are demand coming from: Views from local	Where are demand coming from: Views from outsiders	Where are locals looking to: Views to local	Where are locals looking to: Views to other markets
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	$1,555	-3.1 %	64.7 %	35.3 %	33.2 %	66.8 %
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX	$1,371	-4.3 %	44.1 %	55.9 %	66.7 %	33.3 %
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$1,822	0.0 %	35.6 %	64.4 %	47.6 %	52.4 %
Birmingham, AL	$1,195	-1.2 %	43.7 %	56.3 %	22.1 %	77.9 %
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$2,929	-3.7 %	53.7 %	46.3 %	49.5 %	50.5 %
Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY	NA	NA	41.4 %	58.6 %	53.7 %	46.3 %
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC	$1,494	-2.5 %	37.5 %	62.5 %	54.4 %	45.6 %
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$1,829	0.6 %	75.0 %	25.0 %	46.5 %	53.5 %
Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN	$1,329	0.8 %	43.8 %	56.2 %	54.6 %	45.4 %
Cleveland, OH	$1,194	-1.2 %	44.1 %	55.9 %	57.9 %	42.1 %
Columbus, OH	$1,174	-0.8 %	43.9 %	56.1 %	51.9 %	48.1 %
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$1,462	-2.9 %	71.3 %	28.7 %	50.0 %	50.0 %
Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$1,753	-3.8 %	50.9 %	49.1 %	29.2 %	70.8 %
Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI	$1,235	-4.1 %	48.2 %	51.8 %	64.2 %	35.9 %
Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	NA	NA	31.4 %	68.6 %	45.4 %	54.6 %
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$1,380	-2.8 %	50.3 %	49.7 %	64.6 %	35.4 %
Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN	$1,268	-1.6 %	50.0 %	50.0 %	26.8 %	73.2 %
Jacksonville, FL	$1,474	-2.9 %	35.8 %	64.2 %	59.7 %	40.3 %
Kansas City, MO-KS	$1,421	2.7 %	47.5 %	52.5 %	47.5 %	52.5 %
Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV	$1,447	-2.2 %	53.2 %	46.8 %	70.0 %	30.0 %
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$2,760	-1.9 %	63.6 %	36.4 %	54.5 %	45.5 %
Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN	$1,214	-2.3 %	43.1 %	56.9 %	50.4 %	49.6 %
Memphis, TN-MS-AR	$1,107	-4.4 %	42.6 %	57.4 %	58.3 %	41.7 %
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL	$2,284	-2.2 %	69.9 %	30.1 %	62.9 %	37.1 %
Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI	$1,727	0.7 %	41.6 %	58.4 %	52.7 %	47.4 %
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$1,502	-0.3 %	58.0 %	42.0 %	39.0 %	61.1 %
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN	$1,479	-5.1 %	36.7 %	63.3 %	53.5 %	46.5 %
New Orleans-Metairie, LA	NA	NA	39.3 %	60.7 %	58.5 %	41.6 %
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$2,962	2.1 %	74.5 %	25.5 %	46.1 %	53.9 %
Oklahoma City, OK	$913	-3.8 %	39.1 %	60.9 %	54.0 %	46.0 %
Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL	$1,675	-2.2 %	42.4 %	57.6 %	61.2 %	38.9 %
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$1,761	-1.1 %	46.6 %	53.4 %	56.4 %	43.6 %
Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ	$1,442	-4.0 %	58.5 %	41.5 %	53.5 %	46.5 %
Pittsburgh, PA	$1,468	3.1 %	43.1 %	56.9 %	56.5 %	43.5 %
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$1,599	-1.1 %	42.4 %	57.6 %	55.7 %	44.3 %
Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	$1,931	-2.1 %	34.3 %	65.7 %	50.6 %	49.4 %
Raleigh-Cary, NC	$1,435	-2.2 %	30.9 %	69.1 %	53.6 %	46.4 %
Richmond, VA	$1,528	-0.1 %	35.3 %	64.7 %	51.1 %	48.9 %
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$2,053	-2.7 %	40.8 %	59.2 %	54.3 %	45.7 %
Rochester, NY	NA	NA	41.0 %	59.0 %	50.9 %	49.1 %
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$1,821	-2.0 %	36.8 %	63.2 %	51.4 %	48.6 %
San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX	$1,159	-4.3 %	45.6 %	54.4 %	65.1 %	34.9 %
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$2,667	-2.9 %	38.3 %	61.7 %	64.3 %	35.7 %
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$2,883	1.2 %	35.9 %	64.1 %	55.0 %	45.0 %
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$3,351	1.7 %	51.8 %	48.2 %	10.9 %	89.1 %
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$1,859	-2.1 %	52.4 %	47.6 %	32.5 %	67.5 %
St. Louis, MO-IL	$1,283	-1.8 %	49.4 %	50.6 %	63.2 %	36.8 %
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL	$1,645	-4.5 %	41.5 %	58.5 %	62.3 %	37.7 %
Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC	$1,569	2.0 %	36.8 %	63.2 %	53.2 %	46.8 %
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$2,285	-2.2 %	59.5 %	40.5 %	24.8 %	75.2 %

Methodology
Rental data as of May 2026 for studio, 1-bedroom, or 2-bedroom units advertised for rent on  Realtor.com^®. Rental units include apartments as well as private rentals (condos, townhomes, single-family homes). We use rental sources that reliably report data each month within the 50 largest metropolitan areas. Realtor.com began publishing regular monthly rental trends reports in October 2020 with data history stretching to March 2019.

About Realtor.com^®
For over 30 years, Realtor.com^® has connected buyers, sellers, and renters with trusted insights, professional guidance and powerful tools to help them find their perfect home. Recognized as the No. 1 real estate site REALTOR® agents recommend, Realtor.com^® delivers consumer connections and a robust suite of marketing tools to support business growth. Realtor.com^® is operated by News Corp [Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV] subsidiary Move, Inc.

Media contact: Emily Do, press@realtor.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/realtorcom-monthly-rent-report-the-markets-locals-love--and-the-ones-outsiders-are-taking-over-302800641.html

SOURCE Realtor.com

FAQ

AI-generated questions and answers. How Rhea-AI works. Not financial advice.

What are the key findings of the May 2026 Realtor.com rent report tied to NWS?

The report shows the U.S. median asking rent at $1,686, down 1.5% year-over-year. According to Realtor.com, this marks the 34th consecutive monthly decline, with notable differences in local versus out-of-market renter demand across major metros.

Which rental markets had the strongest local renter loyalty in 2026 Q1 according to Realtor.com and NWS?

Las Vegas had the highest local renter loyalty, with 70% of resident searches staying in-metro. According to Realtor.com, Austin, San Antonio, Houston and San Diego also showed high in-market search shares, reflecting relatively renter-friendly conditions in these locations.

Which cities attracted the most out-of-market renters in 2026 Q1 per the NWS-backed Realtor.com data?

Raleigh attracted the largest share of out-of-market rental views at 69.1%. According to Realtor.com, Hartford, Providence, Richmond and Baltimore also drew strong outsider interest, often from higher-cost hubs like New York, Boston and Washington, D.C., seeking relatively affordable rents.

How is the Detroit rental market changing based on the May 2026 Realtor.com and NWS report?

Detroit saw a sharp rise in non-local demand, with out-of-market rental views increasing from 28.1% in 2020 Q1 to 51.8% in 2026 Q1. According to Realtor.com, this nearly doubled share indicates growing interest from renters outside the metro.

Why does the San Francisco rental market stand out in the 2026 Realtor.com report for NWS investors?

San Francisco rents rose 1.2% year-over-year in May, bucking the national decline. According to Realtor.com, local loyalty increased and out-of-market demand reached 64.1%, while homeownership climbed from 49% to 51.7%, suggesting some renters are transitioning into ownership.

How can renters and landlords use the 2026 Realtor.com rental demand data associated with NWS?

They can gauge whether a market is driven by local or outside demand and how competitive it is. According to Realtor.com, understanding cross-market search patterns alongside pricing trends helps renters target value and landlords assess interest sources when setting expectations.