Renting saves over $900 a month, but that edge is slipping
News release
The latest Realtor.com Rental Report for June 2025 shows that the median asking rent for 0–2 bedrooms is down 2.1% year over year to $1,711. And, even after 23 straight months of annual declines, the U.S. median rent in June was only $48 (-2.7%) below its August 2022 peak. Compared to pre-pandemic levels, rents are still up by $268 (18.6%) over June 2019. In a twist that could surprise many renters, the financial gap between renting and buying is actually closing across much of the country.
“Even with rents leveling for nearly two years, high mortgage rates and still-elevated home prices mean
renting remains the more budget-friendly option in nearly every major market,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com®. “But the narrowing rent versus buy gap we’re seeing in most cities is a signal that the affordability landscape is starting to shift. Renters eyeing homeownership will want to pay close attention in the months ahead.”
Shifting math
Across the nation’s 50 largest metros, median asking rents are down $36 (-2.1%) from last year and nearly $50 below the 2022 peak. All unit sizes declined: studios fell 2.3%, one bedrooms dropped 2.6%, and
two bedrooms dipped 2.1%.
Despite this softening, renting remains more affordable than buying in 49 out of 50 metros. Notably, Austin, Texas, a pandemic hotspot, offers the largest monthly savings for renters compared to buyers, where buying would cost 114.7% more than renting–more than double. However, the average monthly savings for renters now stands at $908, down $48 from $956 a year ago, a sign that buying costs are inching closer.
Top rent-favoring markets in June included the Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom area with median rent listed as $1,877 and the monthly buy cost as $3,395, according to Realtor.com’s report.
California home sales rebound in June
California Association of Realtor News release
SACRAMENTO — Amid stabilizing home prices and a greater availability of homes for sale, California’s housing market rebounded in June, but remained below year-ago levels, the California Association of Realtors recently reported.
Closed escrow sales of existing, singlefamily detached homes in California totaled a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 264,260 in June, according to information collected by CAR from more than 90 local Realtor associations and MLSs statewide. The statewide annualized sales gure represents what would be the total number of homes sold during 2025 if sales maintained the June pace throughout the year. It is adjusted to account for seasonal factors that typically in uence home sales.
June home sales activity rose 4.0 percent from the 254,190 homes sold in May and was down 0.3% from a year ago, when 264,960 homes were sold on an annualized basis. June’s rebound reversed three consecutive months of sales declines and was only one of two months of sales increases for the rst half of 2025. The year-over-year decline marked the third straight decrease and was the rst time since late 2023 that annual sales fell for three consecutive months. Year-to-date sales were barely above a year ago and could fall behind last year’s level in July if market activity remains stagnant.
Statewide pending sales in June slipped from last year’s level for the seventh consecutive month, posting the largest year-over-year drop since January 2025. With mortgage rates rising steadily in the past couple of weeks, housing demand will likely remain so for the month of July.
“With more properties on the market and price growth attening, conditions have become more favorable for prospective buyers who have been waiting on the sidelines to re-enter the market and take advantage of increased negotiating power,” said CAR President Heather Ozur, a Palm Springs REALTOR®. “While sales could remain so at the start of the third quarter, recent improvements in housing sentiment suggest that the market could see a bounce-back in the second half of
the year.”
California’s median home price fell for the second straight month in June, slipping below the $900,000 mark for the rst time in three months. The June median price of $899,560 was down 0.1% from May and also down 0.1% from $900,720 in June 2024. June’s 0.1% decline was not in line with the historical average gain of 0.8%, suggesting non-seasonal factors such as market uncertainty and elevated mortgage rates had a negative lingering e ect on housing demand and home prices.
“While the California housing market has not yet fully transitioned to a buyers’ market, it is exhibiting increasing signs of being more balanced. Inventory levels continue to normalize, with active listings posting year-over-year gains and the time on market has lengthened compared to the prior year, indicating a deceleration in the pace of sales activity,” said CAR Senior Vice President and Chief Economist Jordan Levine.
“Additionally, the proportion of homes closing above asking price has declined, re ecting a reduction in the intensity of bidding competition. As a result, sellers are demonstrating greater willingness to negotiate on pricing, concessions and other terms, which creates more advantageous conditions for those considering a home purchase.”
Other key points from CAR’s June 2025 resale housing report include:
• At the regional level, non-seasonally adjusted home sales in all but one of California’s major regions posted year-over-year sales increases in June, as homebuying interest saw a modest rebound. The far north recorded the strongest sales growth at 13.7%, as ve of its seven counties achieved double-digit sales gains. The central coast followed at 11.4%. Southern California (1.9%) and the San Francisco Bay Area (1%) posted modest growth, while the Central Valley was the only region to post a sales decline, slipping 0.8%.
• Thirty-nine of the 53 counties tracked by CAR reported annual sales gains in June, with 21 counties exceeding 10% growth. Kings County led with an 87.3% increase, followed by Glenn (62.5%) and Humboldt (45.5%).
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Conversely, 12 counties posted year-over-year sales declines, including Merced (-28.1%), Lake (-18.8%) and Amador (-15.6%).
June’s unsold inventory index held steady compared with May, as a pickup in demand was o set by a dip in new listings. The UII measures the number of months needed to sell the supply of homes on the market at the current sales rate. The index was 3.8 months in June, unchanged from May and up from 3 months in June 2024. Total active listings increased more than 40% year-over-year, reaching a 68-month high and marking the 17th straight month of annual supply gains.
New active listings declined year-over-year in June for the rst time in six months, falling 5% from June 2024 and 10.2% from May. Total active listings, on the other hand, continued to rise both monthly and annually, which may suggest that more supply and demand balancing could be forthcoming in the months ahead.
The median number of days it took to sell a California single-family home was 24 days in June, up from 18 days in June 2024.
CAR’s statewide sales-price-to-list-price ratio was 99.3% in June 2025 and 100% in June 2024.
The statewide median price per square foot for an existing single-family home was $437, down from $440 in June a year ago.
The 30-year, xed-mortgage interest rate averaged 6.82% in June, down from 6.92% in June 2024, according to CAR’s calculations based on Freddie Mac’s weekly mortgage survey data.
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