Queens was viewed as one of the top areas in the United States by renters throughout November 2023, according to the latest rental activity report compiled by the national real estate firm RentCafe. Queens is also the most popular rental destination in the northeastern region of the United States.
With the sixth-highest score (83.57) for preference among renters in the country, Queens has now held a top 10 spot for three months in a row. Comparing the amount of page views for Queens listings this November to the same month last year on RentCafe’s site reflects just how much interest in the area has grown. There was a 164% increase in page views year-over-year. Additionally, there has been a 64% decrease in available rentals over the same period of time, marking the the most significant decrease among the top 30 cities in the report.
Despite the fact that Queens retained a high spot in the latest rental activity report, the area actually ended up dropping five spots after placing first as the most in-demand city in the report for October. This slight drop is due in large part to a 47% drop in favorited listings and 32% decline in saved properties year-over-year.
When putting together this recurring report, RentCafe analyzes key factors that reflect both the rental context and renters’ interest in each city during the month. This includes how many apartments were available, how the renter search volume changed year-over-year, how many personalized searches were saved by renters and how many apartments were marked as favorites.
The cities are ranked based on a city-level rental activity score. The most desirable city for a particular metric was awarded full points, while the worst value of each city was on the zero-point level. Cities that did not have enough information when it came to certain specific metrics were awarded no points. To calculate each city’s score, four metrics; availability rate, page views, favorites and saved searches; were ranked, along with their averages as of the most current month in 2023 compared to the same month in 2022.
The availability rate score is calculated by dividing the total vacant units at the city level for the most recent month by the total units, with a year-over-year comparison of the same. The lowest rate receives the 40 point maximum.
The page views score is 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, with a year-over-year comparison of the same. In this study, page views are defined as a unique user interaction on a specific page in a 30-minute window. The maximum amount of points for this metric is 30.
The favorites score is the total monthly rental listings plus the favorites at the city level for the most current month divided by the total renter population in the city, with a year-over-year comparison of the same. Favorites here are defined as rental listings saved to favorites by website visitors.
The saved searches score is 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, with a year-over-year comparison of the same. Saved searches are defined in this instance as a filtered/personalized apartment search saved by a website visitor.
