Any guesses which cities are on the high of RentCafé’s hottest rental markets at first of 2026? Miami? Phoenix? Austin?
Attempt Cincinnati, Atlanta, and Minneapolis. They point out a quiet shift towards inexpensive, job-rich metros that small traders may also purchase into and probably cash flow from. Whereas the coasts boast luxurious residing and high-end jobs, early information point out that one of the best alternatives for staff and traders over the subsequent few years might lie within the Midwest and inside South.
What RentCafé’s New Rankings Actually Present—and What They Don’t
RentCafé primarily based its rating system on renter conduct on its platform. To collate the record that gauges renter demand, the positioning examined 4 particular areas and ranked markets accordingly:
- Condo availability
- Favorited listings
- Saved searches
- Web page views
Cincinnati rose to the highest spot on the again of some spectacular stats. The variety of residences favored by potential renters jumped 81% 12 months over 12 months, whereas saved searches climbed 14% by late 2025, and web page views climbed 3%. Atlanta’s second-place spot was pushed largely by potential renters from New York and throughout Georgia, suggesting ongoing in-migration from pricier markets.
Minneapolis had been a earlier RentCafé high spot holder, and on the time the info was collected, favorited listings have been up 29% 12 months over 12 months, fifth for whole saved searches and ninth for web page views. Nevertheless, this was collected earlier than the ICE immigration crackdown within the metropolis, which triggered unrest and affected rental actual property occupancy and the tempo of latest builds, in response to reviews within the Star Tribune and Multifamily Dive.
Total, RentCafé’s report confirmed that the Midwest accounted for 11 spots and the South accounted for 10 spots on its annual record, reflecting primarily affordability, livability, and the facilities accessible in leases and surrounding areas in conventional blue-collar cities like Minneapolis, Cleveland, and Detroit, in addition to in Western markets like Santa Ana, California.
That’s to not say that high-demand huge metros like Dallas, New York, Chicago, and Miami are flagging. The truth is, even with 500,000 new apartments coming to these areas, information exhibits that discovering a emptiness there stays a problem.
Why Center America Is Surging
The affordability disaster is on the crux of Individuals’ want to maneuver to cheaper markets. In keeping with The Wall Street Journal, general residing bills in a number of Midwest metros are about 8.5% below the U.S. common.
A WSJ/Realtor.com Emerging Housing Markets Index for winter 2026 discovered that Midwest markets with respected universities, sturdy medical infrastructure, and manufacturing hubs have been significantly resilient. Matching these attributes with affordability, median house costs have been largely between $240,000 and $400,000, and the price of residing was beneath nationwide norms.
In keeping with a latest LendingTree study, Individuals are paying “a whole lot of additional {dollars} in hire”—about 40% extra for one- and two-bedroom residences—than even 5 years in the past, whereas wages haven’t stored tempo, placing an incredible squeeze on renters and ushering a migration to extra inexpensive cities.
The housing business has responded by bringing 1000’s of latest residences to the rental market, growing residential building begins 5.2% month over month to 1.428 million items as of July 2025, with new house building up by greater than 50% throughout two months in mid-2025, in response to the Commerce Division’s Census Bureau information, as quoted by Reuters.
Nonetheless a Persistent Scarcity of Housing
The Nationwide Condo Affiliation and the Nationwide Multi-Household Housing Council launched a joint statement on the eve of President Trump’s State of the Union handle, citing the necessity for extra housing to ease the affordability disaster, saying:
“Neither one speech nor one single federal coverage goes to resolve the housing affordability challenges we face. As an alternative, assuaging the housing scarcity requires a sustained dedication to constructing housing of all sorts, backed by private and non-private funding, by means of public-private partnerships and free of outdated guidelines that sluggish building and drive up prices. It additionally requires the administration to lean into what we all know works—constructing extra housing—and resist repeating errors of the previous.”
Studying the Knowledge for Smaller Buyers
Clearly, cheaper, extra inexpensive markets round employment hubs are a necessary play for smaller traders in search of secure rental earnings. A recent report from Financial institution of America confirmed that the exodus of residents from high-cost areas comparable to Los Angeles and New York to smaller Southern cities is fueling out-of-state migration, concluding that “affordability and local weather stay the 2 largest magnets—and the 2 largest push components.”
‘The Straw That Breaks the Camel’s Again’
Minneapolis presents a cautionary story for traders. Within the turbulent political local weather, cities with excessive immigrant populations that face deportation drives by ICE might have extreme repercussions for landlords.
Chris Nebenzahl, vp of rental analysis at John Burns Analysis and Consulting, informed Multifamily Dive that in some buildings, immigration enforcement “could possibly be the straw that breaks the camel’s again,” significantly for house owners going through loans originated in 2021 which can be coming due amid greater vacancies and decrease hire rolls.
Nebenzahl added that the mixture of previous provide points and now a requirement shock from immigration coverage “is actually placing some of us in a little bit of a lurch from an occupancy perspective.” Different landlords in Florida and Texas informed the outlet that they’ve additionally seen detrimental results on leasing and occupancy when ICE enforcement depth is especially excessive.
It’s nonetheless too early, amid persevering with ICE raids, to see how lengthy it takes for leasing exercise to return to earlier ranges after enforcement exercise in an space rescinds.
Last Ideas
The rental market stays extremely fluid within the U.S., with the shifting financial local weather having a pronounced impact on rental exercise, significantly with the arrival of distant work, which implies many individuals are much less prone to keep in an costly metropolis for a job. There was a shift towards extra inexpensive, climate-friendly areas.
RentCafé’s record is fascinating as a result of it’s not one documented after the actual fact however one primarily based largely on on-line exercise, which is an indicator of future motion. That’s why it’s good to mix RentCafé information with hire development information to see how curiosity interprets into motion.
In keeping with analysis agency Arbor Realty Trust, Minneapolis completed 2025 because the second-strongest multifamily hire development market within the nation, with 2% development and a median hire of about $1,497 per unit.
For small landlords, the play is straightforward: Comply with the cash. Bigger house buildings are being constructed at a clip, however not everybody desires to reside in a constructing with a whole lot of different individuals.
Consequently, single-family rental homes in these markets are coveted, in response to National Mortgage Professional, which reviews that simply 13.7% of single-family leases are occupied by renters—a decade low. Discovering pockets of obtainable single-family and small multifamily properties in these markets ought to guarantee sturdy demand.
