Are Sun Belt states still the hottest rental markets?

🏡 Rental Market Changes: 2022 vs 2023

Since last year, the US rental market has cooled with fewer applicants per available rental. Average vacancy also increased by 6 days, making it more attractive for landlords to incentivize existing tenants to renew. Read more here. If you’re in the process of finding your next tenant, check out Leasing+ and Agent+ to close a qualified tenant faster.

🚀 Rent Prices Increased in March

Apartment List rent index reported that rent across the nation has increased in the month of March. This time we saw an increase of 0.5% MoM. This is the second consecutive increase in the rent index since the 5 month decrease from September to January.

🗺️ US Housing Sales Down YoY

The number of homes sold in March was down by 20.6% YoY, according to Redfin, despite a steady increase since February.

Home prices were down 3.3% compared to last year, but not all cities experienced this downtrend in housing prices. Redfin lists these top 10 cities showing double digit growth on prices:

• Savannah, GA 21.2%
• Fayetteville, NC 17.1%
• Tallahassee, FL 16.3%
• Myrtle Beach, SC 15.8%
• Fort Myers, FL 14.1%
• Boynton Beach, FL 13.4%
• Pembroke Pines, FL 13.3%
• Sarasota, FL 12.6%
• Naples, FL 12.5%
• Milwaukee, WI 11.8%
  

Based on calculations on Redfin and MLS, March saw 1.39M homes for sale, which is a 5.8% increase in housing supply YoY.

🌴 Vacation Home Demand Down Significantly

With higher mortgage rates, second-home buyers are holding back on purchasing a vacation property. Mortgage-rate locks for second homes decreased by 52% from pre-pandemic levels. High home prices, high mortgage rates, high inflation, and less flexibility for remote work are all leading to lower demand for second homes. As Redfin Deputy Chief Economist Taylor Marr said “a lot of people can’t afford to buy one home now, let alone a second.” Read more here.

Are your short-term rentals not performing like they used to? Find out why you should convert them to long-term rentals here.

🔥 Northeast is the New Hottest Rental Market

While the Sun Belt states have been the hottest rental region over the past few years, the Northeast is now the hottest rental market according to RentCafe. RentCafe ranked the most competitive rental markets in the United States based on the following metrics:

• The number of days apartments were vacant
• The percentage of apartments that were occupied by renters
• The number of prospective renters that were competing for an apartment
• The percentage of renters who renewed their leases
• The share of new apartments completed.

Their analysis showed North Jersey to be the most competitive market in the US.