Despite a recent softening in rents for new leases and a cooling construction pipeline, rental housing in the US remains unaffordable for households across the income spectrum, according to America’s Rental Housing 2026, a new report released by The Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies.

After record rent increases during the pandemic, national rent growth hovered near zero from mid-2023 into 2025. By the fourth quarter of 2025, asking rents for professionally managed apartments declined 0.6 percent year over year, and vacancy rates ticked up to 5.2 percent. Headline numbers showing flat or falling rents can be misleading, though. For millions of renters, especially those with lower and moderate incomes, housing is deeply unaffordable.

Robust construction cools as costs rise
Multifamily construction remains elevated by historical standards, even as it retreats from recent peaks. Developers started 416,000 multifamily units in 2025—well below the three-decade high reached in 2022 but still above pre-pandemic norms. At the same time, the number of apartments under construction fell sharply from a record 996,000 in 2023 to 686,000 in 2025. Rising construction and labor costs have contributed to this pullback.

Affordability challenges worsen
A record level of renters are cost burdened. In 2024, 22.7 million renter households spent more than 30 percent of their income on rent and utilities—49 percent of all renters. Some 12.1 million of these households were severely cost burdened, paying more than half their income for housing. Cost burdens have risen in 44 states and 88 of the 100 largest metro areas over the past five years. And the affordability crisis is no longer confined to the lowest-income households. We’re now seeing growing cost burdens among renters earning $45,000 to $75,000 and even among higher-income renters.

Housing safety net strained
The report warns that federal rental assistance and preservation programs are not keeping pace with rising need. Cuts to key safety net programs and delays in energy assistance funds are further tightening household budgets, while looming changes in disaster assistance could shift more responsibility to state and local governments. And while the high cost of homeownership will keep many households renting, weaknesses in the economy, as well as aggressive immigration and deportation policies, could further stifle demand.

Yet, the report also highlights important policy innovations including zoning reforms, new revenue sources for rental assistance, expanding tenant protections, and mixed-income affordable housing development models. And despite headwinds, there is a growing recognition across the political spectrum that safe, stable, affordable housing is fundamental to families’ well-being and to a strong economy. If we can build on emerging bipartisan momentum and learn from state and local innovations, we have an opportunity to make real progress on the nation’s rental housing challenges.