The Top City Where America’s Renters Are Moving—and the Ones They’re Fleeing in Droves

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Looking for a new city to call home? Consider Denver. According to Apartment List’s latest renter migration report, this mountain city is the top metro where renters are moving right now.

Apartment List came to this finding by analyzing millions of searches for apartments on its site from June 1, 2019, through Dec. 31, 2019. And, since searching for an apartment and actually moving are different things, the report also factored in which cities were retaining and losing their population, too.

So why did Denver top the list? You can thank the area’s tech boom, for starters.

“Denver’s economy has been booming for a number of years now, with significant growth in its tech industry specifically,” Chris Salviati, housing economist at Apartment List, told realtor.com. “The metro has added a significant number of jobs for highly educated workers, which generally pay high salaries.”

Along with Denver’s booming economy, renters are drawn to the city for its mountain views, abundant outdoor activities, and (last but not least) legalized cannabis.

“We attribute the city’s appeal to its strong job growth, great climate, appeal to outdoors enthusiasts, and ease of transportation to other national and international destinations,” says Ryan Belinak, creator and team lead of Denver-based Live Urban Real Estate’s leasing division.

The rental costs in Denver, revealed

While Denver has a lot to offer, don’t expect cheap rent to come easy. Rents are relatively high in Denver, averaging $1,352 for a two-bedroom as of December 2019, according to Apartment List. Median rent nationally for a two-bedroom is $1,192.

Because of this, Belinak says, “We find that renters who can afford to rent here only do so for their initial lease term, and then they are on the hunt to purchase properties in the metro area.”

Despite its high housing costs, Denver remains more affordable than coastal tech hubs like San Francisco or Boston, Salviati says, adding that there’s also an outflow of renters to smaller, more affordable nearby metros like Colorado Springs, Boulder, and Fort Collins.

Here are the top 10 metros attracting renters:

1. Denver, CO
2. Baltimore, MD
3. San Diego, CA
4. Tampa, FL
5. San Francisco, CA
6. Boston, MA
7. Seattle, WA
8. Charlotte, NC
9. Houston, TX
10. St. Louis, MO

Top cities renters are leaving

As for cities that people are leaving behind, Orlando, FL, topped the list, according to Apartment List’s survey.

Home to Walt Disney World and several other theme parks, Orlando is mobbed with tourists, which could be a turnoff to local renters. Plus the job market here is largely tourist-related, with low wages that don’t exactly inspire people to stick around.

“The nature of that job growth is very different than what we’re seeing in Denver,” Salviati says. “Orlando’s economy is dominated by the tourism industry, which is highly cyclical, and workers generally earn lower salaries. Workers tend to be less attached to low-wage jobs, which may explain the high share of renters who are looking to leave the area.”

Making matters worse, Orlando’s housing costs aren’t even that low, either, with the average rent on a two-bedroom apartment being $1,295.

Even though renters are looking to get out of Orlando, many want to stay in Florida, with Miami and Tampa as top destinations they’re flocking to next. Salviati says these metros are larger with more diversified economies.

Although many people want to leave Orlando, the city’s also attracting a fresh crop of people who want to move there, too.

“We also see a relatively robust share of renters looking to move to Orlando from elsewhere, indicating turnover in the metro’s renter population, rather than an exodus from it,” Salviati says.

Here are the top 10 metros renters are planning to leave:

1. Orlando, FL
2. Riverside, CA
3. Detroit, MI
4. Chicago, IL
5. Charlotte, NC
6. Washington, DC
7. San Francisco, CA
8. Los Angeles, CA
9. Portland, OR
10. Baltimore, MD

The post The Top City Where America’s Renters Are Moving—and the Ones They’re Fleeing in Droves appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.

source https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/top-city-where-americas-renters-are-moving-and-ones-theyre-fleeing/