This is why it’s so hard to find an apartment in New Jersey

New Jersey’s red-hot real estate market has been well documented, but finding a place to rent can be just as brutal in the Garden State.

North Jersey and Central Jersey rank among the country's most competitive rental markets in 2023, according to Rent Café.

Here are the metrics they used:

⚫ the number of days apartments stayed vacant
⚫ the percentage of rentals that were occupied
⚫ the number of prospective renters competing for an apartment
⚫ the percentage of renters who renewed their leases
⚫ the share of apartments completed this year

While Miami ranked #1, North Jersey was right behind as the second most competitive market in the nation, and Central Jersey ranked tenth.

About North Jersey, Rent Café says:

the metro has become a hot spot for renting throughout the pandemic, attracting many Millennials looking for more affordable housing options outside of major rental hubs like New York City: It ranked fifth in terms of rental competitiveness at the end of 2022 and then swiftly moved to first place at the start of 2023.

North Jersey has the second-highest occupancy rate in the country at 96.3% and 70.5% of apartment dwellers renewed their lease, making it a highly competitive market. In fact, there are 14 prospective renters for every vacancy in North Jersey.

Central Jersey has an even higher renewal rate at 82.5%, with nine renters for every available apartment. In that area, 95.9% of apartments are spoken for, with each apartment staying on the market for 46 days (in North Jersey, it’s 34 days). With some of those other numbers, I’m surprised rentals stay on the market that long.

Happy hunting!

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Doyle only.

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