This part of New Jersey remains ultra-competitive for rentals

So, where are the hottest rental markets in the country? According to RentCafe, two of the most competitive are in New Jersey, which will come as no surprise to anyone who’s tried to find an apartment recently.

RentCafe.com analyzed the 135 largest markets in the U.S. where data was available. Specifically, they looked at five important metrics that affect a location’s competitivity:

• the number of days apartments were vacant
• what percentage of rentals were occupied
• the number of prospective renters competing for an apartment
• what percentage of renters renewed their leases
• the share of apartments completed this year

After crunching the numbers, they determined that North Jersey was the fifth most competitive rental market, while Central Jersey was 7th.

In 2022, over a quarter of renters in North Jersey looked for a new apartment, while 74.3% decided to stay put and renew their leases. That's the fifth-highest lease renewal rate nationwide.

As a result, competition among renters was fierce. For every available apartment on the market, there were, on average, 21 apartment seekers applying for it.

Apartments in North Jersey stayed on the market for an average of 32 days before being rented out. With occupancy rates at 97.2%, there were limited housing options in this area.

Despite an increase of 2.1% in the total number of new apartments that hit the market, which is the sixth largest growth in supply nationwide, North Jersey is far from meeting the growing demand for housing.

In Central Jersey, there were 15 applicants for every vacancy and an 85% lease renewal rate.

Central Jersey and North Jersey were almost twice as competitive as Manhattan in 2022, boasting RCI (rental competitivity index) scores of 96.8 and 107.5, respectively.

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

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