Renter engagement across Queens has gone down in the first quarter of 2026, compared to the same period of time last year, according to a report by RentCafe.
Queens was the only New York City borough to appear among the top 150 largest cities that had a downward trend in renter engagement. RentCafe had less search traffic, listings added to favorites and saved searches compared to the previous year. These downward trends indicate that more prospective renters are looking at other boroughs in New York City.
RentCafe’s Rental Engagement Tracker (REnT) gave Queens a score of 61.94. This score, which is based on millions of interactions on RentCafe’s site and takes into account the availability of apartments, listing views, apartments saved as favorites and saved personalized searches, ranks 106th out of 150.
Year-over-year, Queens experienced a 12% drop in availability, a 46% decline in page views, a 44% decrease in favorites and a 43% fall in saved searches. Despite availability going down, Queens still had the 14th-highest availability among the cities in the study. The borough ranked 134th in page views, 123rd in favorites and 82nd in saved searches.
Other New York City boroughs to appear on the list included the Bronx, Manhattan and Brooklyn, which all had big increases in REnT scores.
The Bronx put up the best REnT score, at 90. Ranking sixth overall, this borough’s score is aided by high ranks across the board. Despite going down 59% year-over-year in the first quarter, the Bronx had the highest-ranked availability, thanks in large part to major investment announcements, large-scale development projects and more people recognizing the Bronx as one of the most culturally rich and accessible neighborhoods in the United States. Even with a 3% drop, page views are ranked 28th. Favorites more than doubled, having gone up 111% and now ranking 26th. Saved searches rank 14th after a 15% increase.
Brooklyn ranked 69th overall with a 68.13 REnT score. Even with a 43% jump in availability, it still ranked just 134th. Page views fell 16% and ranked 62nd. A 263% leap in favorites allowed Brooklyn to finish 8th in this field. Saved searches also experienced growth, rising 18%, allowing for the borough to rank 49th in that area.
Manhattan’s 65.79 REnT score was good for 85th overall. Availability fell 6%, but still ranked 25th. A 59% drop in page views reflected the borough’s low standing in this category, ranking 142nd. Favorites rose 71%, which ranks 37th. Saved searches nearly doubled, receiving a 91% boost, which ranks 11th.