Midsize, College Towns Atop New List Of ‘Hottest’ Rental Markets

ACROSS AMERICA — Finding a place to rent in mid-size, and college towns, across the country can be a challenge, those places make up most of the “hottest” communities in the nation, according to a 2021 report from the apartment search website RentCafé.

Central Valley — a region in California that includes Fresno, Bakersfield, Stockton and Modesto — scored as the hottest rental market in the country. The central California region was followed by Spokane, Washington, Boise, Idaho, Sacramento, California, and the Inland Empire region in Southern California in rounding out the top five.

Midsize towns made up a majority of the top 30 markets on the list. Phoenix, Tampa and Memphis were the biggest cities listed, and none of them made the top 20.

The three midsize California markets that made the top five are, in part, a result of a recent trend of people moving to those areas from Los Angeles and the Bay Area, RentCafé said, citing a 2020 report from Redfin.

College towns also made up a good chunk of the top 30, with Knoxville, Tennessee, Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Tucson, Arizona, joining Central Valley, Boise and Spokane among those listed.

Nationally, the RentCafé study that analyzed Yardi Systems apartment market data across 125 rental markets in the United States during the first three months of 2021 found apartments go vacant for an average of 39 days, with 94 percent of rentals occupied, and an average of 11 renters competing for an apartment.