Cities across the U.S. are buzzing with renting activity, and some are facing high competition among apartment-dwellers looking for a new place to call home, including here in Orlando. In fact, Orlando is the country’s 3rd most competitive rental market, thanks to its high rental renewal rates and low apartment availability, according to a recent RentCafe report.
The housing market is sizzling throughout the entire U.S., but Florida is the nation’s most competitive region when it comes to renting, with five metros occupying the top 20 spots in our ranking — Miami-Dade, Orlando, Southwest Florida, Broward County and Tampa.
Highlights of the report that found Orlando is the 3rd most in-demand rental market include:
- In the first part of 2022, only a quarter of renters decided to move into a new apartment, as 73% of Orlando’s apartment-dwellers chose to stay put and renew their leases.
- Despite an increase of 1.5% in the total number of apartments compared to the end of 2021, Orlando is far from meeting the growing demand for housing.
- As a result, for every vacant apartment in the city, there were, on average, 22 applicants. Competition was even fiercer in other Florida markets, like Miami-Dade County, where 31 renters applied for one available unit.
- On average, it took only 30 days for a vacant apartment in Orlando to be rented out. With occupancy rates at 97%, prospective renters had limited housing options in this bustling market.
- Nationwide, occupancy rates reached 95.5%. On average, vacant apartments stayed on the market for 35 days and the number of prospective renters applying for one available unit was 14. More so, 61,7% of renters renewed their leases in the first part of the year.
To rank the most in-demand rental markets in the first half of 2022, RentCafe analyzed the largest 100 metro areas based on occupancy rates, the number of renters applying for an available unit, vacancy days, the percentage of renewed leases, and the share of new apartments completed.
Here’s the full Most Competitive Rental Markets in 2022 report from RentCafe.
