With interest rates still high and down payment funds hard to assemble, rentals have become the new American reality for many. Forget the homeownership dreams at least for now. 

But within the rental category, there's not one but three options, and they're not equally desired, according to a recent analysis by John Burns, written by James McKeever and Jesse McConnico. The report tracked build-to-rent, scattered single-family rental homes and apartment rents nationwide.

The most stable of the three these days is the SFR category, with the BTR and apartment rents showing more up and down movement. In fact, SFR has been stable, the report says, for the last four-plus years versus the other two, which have been more volatile. Back in 2020 and 2021, the increase in household formation led to BTR and apartment rents being raised more than SFR, whose owners tended to increase them at what's termed "normal rates."