According to the latest rental activity report from Rent Cafe, Queens experienced the 13th-most rental activity in August 2023 among 150 cities in the United States included in this report. Queens climbed six spots from its August 2022 ranking.
The sudden and drastic rise experienced by Queens was thanks largely in part to a 75% reduction in available apartments and a 77% rise in page views on RentCafe.com. This shows that apartments in the borough are in much more demand now.
Each city included in this report was ranked based on a city-level rental activity score. Full points were awarded to the most desirable city for a particular metric, while the zero-point level was set slightly below the worst city’s value. Those that didn’t have sufficient information regarding specific metrics were not given points.
Beginning in August 2023, the city with the highest total rental activity score was awarded 100 points, with the total scores of the following cities adjusted accordingly. Four metrics were used to calculate each city’s score, along with their averages as of the most current month in 2023 versus the same month in 2022. These metrics were availability rate, page views, favorites and saved searches.
With a maximum score of 40, the availability rate score was calculated by dividing the total vacant units at the city level for the most recent month by the total units and a year-over-year comparison of the same, with the lowest rate receiving maximum points.
Having a maximum score of 30, the page views score was calculated as the total number of monthly page views for the most recent month at the city level divided by the total renter population in the city and a year-over-year comparison of the same. Page views are defined here as a unique user interaction on a specific page within a 30-minute window.
Both favorites and saved searches had maximum scores of 15. The favorites score was calculated as the total monthly rental listings added to favorites at the city level for the most current month divided by the total renter population in the city and a year-over-year comparison of the same. It is defined as a rental listing saved to favorites by a website visitor. Saved searches scores was calculated as the total number of monthly saved searches at the city level for the most current month divided by the total renter population in the city and a year-over-year comparison of the same. Saved searches were defined as filtered/personalized apartment searches saved by a website visitor.
Queens posted a total rental activity score of 85.33. In addition to the 75% reduction in availability and 77% increase in page views, Queens saw a 44% decrease in favorites and 45% decrease in saved searches.
Arlington, VA, took the top spot, with a rental activity score of 100. The city experienced a 22% increase in availability, a 120% increase in page views, 72% increase in favorites and 38% increase in saved searches.
