Grant Cardone, the multifamily real estate investor and social media omnipresence, has always been bullish on the benefits of buying apartment buildings. Recently, he has been predicting that the average rent in the US could double in the next decade.

Cardone’s assumption is based on several different factors. Besides the Sunbelt, new multifamily property development has slowed in many areas, increasing rental demand. He also contends that high interest rates have made it cheaper to rent than own. After a flattening off with only modest rental increases in 2025 — which has been supported by CRE Daily, and Commercial Real Estate company CBRE —  Cardone predicts that “rents will explode in 2026.” CBRE agrees, stating, “As the construction pipeline shrinks, strong renter demand will lower the vacancy rate and precipitate above-average rent growth in 2026.”

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“The relationship is going to very quickly flip from a renter-friendly environment to a landlord-friendly environment,” Lee Everett, the head of research and strategy at multifamily giant Cortland, told The Wall Street Journal.

If rents were to rise significantly, it would increase housing costs — a key metric used to calculate inflation — causing the Fed to halt any lowering of rates, which would play into the hands of landlords, forcing more Americans to rent than buy. Real Estate data and analytics company, CoStar  predicts that by the end of this year, every major metropolitan market is expected to see positive rent growth.

The prospect of President Donald Trump‘s tariffs and migrant deportations could also contribute to limited new construction, which would put pressure on current rental rates and further increase rents. According to the National Association of Home Builders, the US imports about 25% of its building materials from Canada and Mexico, while 13% of the construction workforce is comprised of undocumented workers.

Last year saw the slowest housing market in three decades, and if interest rates, construction, and labor all remain problematic, potential buyers will remain on the sidelines, increasing rents. That certainly has been the case in the early part of 2025. In January, the average asking price for rent in the U.S. was almost $1,968 up 0.2% from December and 3.5% from a year earlier, according to Zillow. 

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