It would seem that a lot more people are interested in renting an apartment in Dallas compared to last year, at least according to RentCafe, which showed the Big D jumping up some 25 spots this past quarter in its latest ranking of U.S. cities based on online engagement.
RentCafe’s Renter Engagement Tracker ranks the 150 biggest cities based on renter activity on its website. It uses four metrics: availability rate, page views, favorited listings, and saved searches. Each metric is normalized per renter population and compared year-over-year, then converted into a score, with the top city for each metric receiving full points.
Last year in Q3, Dallas came in at No. 47. Now, it sits at No. 22, and it came in at No. 5 for the South. RentCafe page views for the city popped up by 5%, favorited listings increased by 15%, and saved searches saw a 25% jump.
Dallas wasn’t the only city to see such a big increase in online interest. Birmingham, Alabama jumped up 29 spots to land at No. 29, and San Francisco, California went up 23 spots to get to No. 23 (yes, I know). The top three cities in descending order were Cincinnati, Ohio; Atlanta, Georgia; and Kansas City, Missouri.
As for whose interest Dallas seems to be peaking, RentCafe said many online lookyloos were from Houston, Plano, and New York City.
“Strong double-digit growth in both favorites and saved searches shows that renters are targeting modern, amenity-rich apartments in one of the nation’s fastest-growing metros,” RentCafe’s study reads.
With Dallas putting up more multifamily units than Houston and San Antonio combined, it’s no wonder apartment hunters are seeing what the city has to offer. Office conversions are bringing new residential life to downtown, and the flood of new inventory has purportedly given renters a little more in the way of incentives.