In the top 20 most populated US metro areas, rental prices for two bedroom units grew 3.75% in 2011 whilst asking prices for the same type of property fell by 1.83% according to national housing search engine Hotpads.

Studio rentals remained the highest growth property with a 7.12% increase over the year, with one and two bedroom rental properties also seeing a price increase of 2.59% and 3.75% respectively, but three bedrooms homes dipped in price by 0.31%.

New York , Boston, Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Chicago had some of the most expensive (by median listing price) rental listings in the US for two bedroom properties. With rental listings in San Francisco in particularly high demand, as they only stayed as ‘active to let’ for 28 days on HotPads compared to an average of 49 days across other top metro markets.

The report stated: “While we expect demand for rental properties to remain high throughout 2012, we anticipate a slower growth compared to last year. As the price of homes for sale continues to decline, we believe more people will consider buying over renting. We also predict more foreclosed and long standing for sale properties will re-enter the market as rental units in 2012, which should increase the rental supply and help ease prices. However, if economic conditions extend consumer uncertainty, we may continue seeing would be home owners continue to rent.”