These home sellers gave up—and became landlords

It’s been tough to sell a home lately—which is why “accidental landlords” are suddenly everywhere.

Zillow found that 2.3% of rental listings were homes that failed to sell, sat on the market for at least two weeks, then were relisted as rentals within three months. That’s a near six-year high—and still rising.

The trend is most pronounced in oversupplied markets like Texas and Florida. Denver is the accidental landlord capital, where 4.9% of rentals were home sale dropouts.

“Most ‘investors’ in our market [now] are just normal folks who need or want to move—and aren’t excited about selling right now,” says Denver property manager Tyler Howell. He’s seen a “huge increase” in owners who “can’t sell,” now making up about half of his incoming leads.

Their hesitation makes sense. Denver home prices are down 9.6% year over year to a median of $565,000, according to Redfin. Nationwide, more than half of homes have lost value since last year.

But today’s sellers have an edge over previous generations: Many have built up so much equity that they don’t need to sell to fund their next move.

“Today’s sellers are rarely forced to sell,” explains Zillow senior economist Kara Ng. “Renting out a property is one way to buy time rather than compete aggressively on price.”

The “mortgage lock-in effect” only adds to the standoff. As Howell puts it: “Our market is saturated with homes owned at sub-3% rates. Would you want to sell now? I wouldn’t.”

But accidental landlording comes with pitfalls.

“The two biggest mistakes I see? Owners try to rent furnished homes or offer short-term leases,” says Howell. “That signals the home will be back on the market soon and scares off serious renters.”

And even if renting is intended as a temporary stopgap, many property owners end up appreciating the regular cash flow from a rental.

“Clients often say they’ll rent for a year or two then sell, but only about 15% actually do,” Howell says. “With this wave, it may be closer to 25% to 33%—still far less than intended.”