Millennial Mayhem (and Other Housing Headaches) in 2025

Millenials get blamed for ruining everything, from killing certain restaurants to spending their hard-earned money on student loans and groceries instead of luxury goods. According to a new Zillow report, Millennials might also be the reason single-family rental prices have soared 41% since pre-pandemic days. 

With homeownership looking completely unattainable these days thanks to low inventory, sky-high prices, and high mortgage rates, many Millennials are renting single-family homes instead of buying. And surprise! Demand is up, supply is down, and prices are now through the roof. Ultimately, single-family rentals are more expensive than apartments — and the gap is growing!

In major metro areas like Hartford, St. Louis, and Cleveland, rents have jumped significantly, making it harder for corporate employees relocating for work to find affordable housing. Meanwhile, builders are adapting by constructing smaller, taller, and denser homes (hello, micro mansions and vertical villages), but it’s not enough to ease the pressure.

For mobility programs, these housing headaches mean bigger challenges for talent. Employees may struggle to secure reasonably priced single-family rentals, leading to relocation hesitations, financial concerns, and possibly a few panicked calls to HR or Global Mobility. Companies might need to up their game and consider offering larger housing stipends, short-term housing solutions, or even helping employees navigate homeownership incentives (because saving for a down payment now takes almost a decade).

Here are some of the stats on single-family rents from that same Zillow report:

• The typical asking rent for single-family homes was $2,174 in December, up 0.1% month-over-month. Since the beginning of the pandemic, single-family rents have increased by 40.6%.
• Single-family rents are now up 4.4% from last year.
• Single-family rents fell on a monthly basis, in 20 major metro areas. The largest monthly drops in single-family rents were in Salt Lake City (-1.2%), Boston (-0.8%), Buffalo (-0.6%), Denver (-0.5%), and Virginia Beach (-0.4%).
• Single-family rents rose from year-ago levels in all of the 50 largest metro areas. Annual increases were highest in Hartford (7.7%), St. Louis (7.6%), Cleveland (7.4%), Chicago (6.8%), and Indianapolis (6.6%).

No part of the rental market has been able to avoid continued price increases, with smaller units also experiencing slightly higher growth rates. According to the latest estimates from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), median rents for 2025 are expected to be 4.8% higher nationally than in 2024, reflecting continued pressure on housing costs.

According to this data from Construction Coverage, “Studio apartments are projected to see the largest increase, with rents rising 5.9% to a median of $1,384 in 2025. One-bedroom units follow closely with a 5.3% increase, while two-bedroom units are expected to rise by 4.8%. Larger rentals will see smaller, but still significant, increases: median rents for three-bedroom homes are projected to grow 4.4%, while four-bedroom homes will rise by 4.1% to $2,681.”

While cities and policymakers are finally chatting about fixing the affordability crisis, companies can’t just sit around waiting for a magical solution. Instead, they’ll need to get creative with their relocation benefits to keep employees happy, housed, and willing to make the move. In the meantime, the great single-family rental squeeze continues, and landlords are laughing all the way to the bank.