In 2022, two-thirds of renters renewed their leases

According to RentCafé’s year-end report for 2022, almost two-thirds of renters renewed their leases in a market still hindered by record home prices and rising interest rates.

As many as 14 prospective renters competed for a lease at the national level for vacant apartments in 2022, on average, resulting in vacant apartments being occupied within 32 days.

In 2022, nearly 95 percent of apartments were already occupied, making finding a new apartment difficult – especially since newly built units only represented 1.5 percent of the nation’s total housing supply, according to RentCafe.

For its analysis of the hottest rental markets in 2022, RentCafe.com examined the 135 largest markets in the U.S. with available data. Specifically looking at five important metrics that affect a location’s competitivity:

Using these metrics, we calculated a Rental Competitivity Index (RCI), which measures how competitive the rental market was this year.

In 2022, the national RCI score was 59.9.

Among 130 rental markets, the most competitive scored over 100.

With an RCI of 118, Miami was by far the hottest rental market in the U.S., due to record-high occupancy and high lease renewal rates. In the Sunshine State, a combination of factors, including a business-friendly climate and a booming tech scene, attracted millennials and even Gen Zers looking to work and live.”

Los Angeles’ high cost of living and rising housing prices have caused many renters to relocate to less expensive places in Southern California – particularly Orange County apartments. With a strong economy and a diverse job pool fueled by e-commerce, the OC is overheated due to low supply.

San Diego was another competitive location in SoCal. It is still less expensive than Los Angeles or San Francisco, despite being consistently ranked among the country’s most expensive places. High tech, education, research, military, defense, and health care jobs abound, and the median age is around 35.

Read the full RentCafe report here.