Northeastern Pennsylvania's Rental Market (Q2 '26 - Q3 '26) - Focus on Luzerne County

The Period at a Glance

From April 1 through September 30, 2026, 273 houses, apartments and townhouses in Luzerne County were leased through the multiple listing service, up from 267 over the same six months of 2025, an increase of (2.2%). The median asking rent on the homes that leased was ($1,450) a month, up (7.4%) from ($1,350). Half of the leased homes were asking between ($1,200) and ($1,695), against ($1,100) to ($1,600) a year earlier.

Homes took a few days longer to lease. The median time from the listing date to the lease date in the MLS was 41 days, against 38 a year earlier.

One point about these figures matters more than any other. They are the last asking rent on each home that leased, not the rent the tenant agreed to pay. The regional MLS does not share the final lease amount with member websites, so an asking rent on a home that did lease is the most reliable figure available. We do not claim the two are the same.

By Bedroom Count

Asking rents rose on one, two and four bedroom homes and held at ($1,500) on three bedroom homes. Much of the rise in the overall median came from the mix. Three and four bedroom homes, which ask more, were 143 of the 273 leases, against 118 of 267 a year earlier. The four bedroom median rests on a small sample of 29. One studio leased in 2025 and is counted only in that period's totals.

By Property Type

By Town

Towns are grouped by mailing address, so Pittston includes parts of Pittston Township and neighboring areas that share the Pittston address. Only towns with at least 12 leases in the period are shown.

How This Compares With Federal Benchmarks

HUD sets Fair Market Rents each year for housing assistance, for the Scranton and Wilkes-Barre metro area, which covers Luzerne, Lackawanna and Wyoming Counties. A Fair Market Rent is an estimate of the 40th percentile gross rent, including utilities, for a standard unit, not a median asking rent, so it is a benchmark rather than a like-for-like comparison.

The fiscal 2026 rents applied for the whole period. Our median asking rent for a two bedroom home that leased was ($1,250), almost exactly the ($1,252) two bedroom Fair Market Rent, and the three bedroom median of ($1,500) sat below the ($1,631) benchmark. HUD's fiscal 2027 schedule, published in September 2026 with an effective date of October 1, raises the two bedroom figure (8.9%) to ($1,363).

The Census Bureau's American Community Survey measures what every renter household pays, including long-standing tenancies at older rents. Its 2020 to 2024 estimate of the median gross rent in Luzerne County is ($1,004), plus or minus ($25), against ($1,007) in Lackawanna County and ($1,209) statewide. The same survey found that renters occupy (32.2%) of Luzerne County's occupied homes, and that (46.4%) of renter households whose burden could be computed spend (30%) or more of their income on rent.

For Landlords and Tenants

• Security deposits. Under the Pennsylvania Landlord and Tenant Act a landlord may not require more than two months' rent as a deposit in the first year of a lease, or more than one month's rent from the start of the second year.
• Returning a deposit. Within 30 days after the lease ends the landlord must give the tenant a written list of any damages being charged, with the balance of the deposit. A landlord who sends no list loses the right to withhold any of it, and one who wrongfully withholds part of it can owe double that part. The tenant must give the landlord a forwarding address in writing.
• Escrow and interest. Once a tenancy passes its second year, deposits over ($100) must be held in escrow, and the tenant is entitled to the interest, less the one percent a year the landlord may keep.
• Local licensing. Several municipalities license or inspect rentals, among them Kingston, Hazleton and Pittston City. Check with the municipality before you list a unit.

Methodology and Sources

The rental figures are every Residential Lease listing in Luzerne County with a lease date from April 1 through September 30, 2026, and for comparison April 1 through September 30, 2025, read from the regional multiple listing service data on October 15, 2026 and re-checked on October 20, 2026. Duplicate listings of the same property were removed, and none fell in either period. Asking rents below ($300) or above ($10,000) a month, almost certainly entered as an annual or whole-term figure, were excluded. That removed one listing in 2026 and three in 2025, all above ($10,000). Figures are medians.

• Regional multiple listing service data, Residential Lease listings with a lease date in each period, retrieved October 15, 2026 and re-checked October 20, 2026
• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Fair Market Rents, fiscal years 2026 and 2027, Scranton and Wilkes-Barre metro area, and the fiscal 2027 Federal Register notice (September 1, 2026)
• U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-Year Estimates, tables B25064, B25003 and B25070
• Pennsylvania Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951, sections 511.1, 511.2 and 512