The high-level takeaways from ATTOM Data Solutions’ newly released 2020 U.S. Single Family Rental Market Report are potential rental returns decrease from a year ago in 59 percent of the U.S. counties analyzed, while the highest potential SFR returns are in the Baltimore, Vineland, Macon, Mobile and Atlanta Metros.

ATTOM’s annual single family rental report this year analyzed single-family rental returns in 389 U.S. counties with a population of at least 100,000 and sufficient rental and home price data. Rental data comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and home price data comes from publicly recorded sales deed data collected and licensed by ATTOM Data Solutions.

According to the report, the average annual gross rental yield (annualized gross rent income divided by median purchase price of single-family homes) among the 389 counties analyzed is 8.4 percent for 2020, down slightly from an average of 8.6 percent in 2019.

The report revealed the counties with the highest potential annual gross rental yields for 2020: Baltimore City/County, MD (28.9 percent); Cumberland County, NJ, in the Vineland-Bridgeton metro area (20.1 percent); Bibb County, GA, in the Macon metro area (18.2 percent); Mobile County, AL (15.7 percent); and Clayton County, GA, in the Atlanta metro area (15.1 percent). Baltimore City, Cumberland and Bibb counties also had the top three yields in 2019.