Central Coast was one of most competitive rental markets in U.S. in 2022, website says
California’s Central Coast was one of the nation’s most competitive small rental markets this year, according to apartment search website RentCafe.
Fayetteville, Arkansas, led RentCafe’s list of the top 20 Hottest Small Rental Markets in 2022, followed by Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, at No. 2 and Lafayette, Indiana, at No. 3.
The Central Coast, which includes Monterey, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz and San Luis Obispo counties, landed at No. 20 on the list, released Dec. 19.
To come up with the rankings for its 2022 Year-End Report, RentCafe looked at five key metrics: the number of days rental properties were vacant; what percentage of rentals were occupied; the number of prospective renters competing for an space; the percentage of renters renewed their leases and the share of apartments completed in 2022.
Based on those metrics, Rent Cafe calculated a Rental Competitivity Index (RCI) showing how competitive the rental market was this year. The national RCI score was 59.9 in 2022, the site said.
The Central Coast received a rental competitiveness score of 79.9 from RentCafe.
According to RentCafe, the amount of properties available for rent in the region grew by just 0.5% this year.
Apartment seekers in the Central Coast were mostly young professionals coming from more expensive metropolitan areas, the site said.
More than 97% of apartments that were available for rent stayed occupied in 2022, and the units that did become vacant were filled after an average of 29 days, according to the news release.
The low vacancy rate can be explained in part by the number of Central Coast renters who opted to stay in their current apartment.
Roughly 55% of Central Coast renters renewed their leases instead of moving to a new apartment or buying a property, according to RentCafe.
The low supply and low vacancy contributed to the competitiveness of the Central Coast rental market, RentCafe said, noting that an average of 14 renters competed for each vacant rental property.
What are most competitive small rental markets in United States?
The smaller-sized regions had the most competitive rental markets in 2022, according to RentCafe:
- Fayetteville, Arkansas
Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania
Lafayette, Indiana
Ashville, North Carolina
Madison, Wisconsin
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Providence, Rhode Island
Knoxville, Tennessee
North Central Florida
Portland, Maine
Little Rock, Arkanasas
Columbus, Georgia
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Wichita, Kansas
Albany, New York
South Bend, Indiana
Fayetteville, North Carolina
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Central Coast, California
Read the full report at https://bit.ly/rentalmarket2022.
This story was originally published December 22, 2022 at 12:01 PM.
