This Year’s Renters Want More Space, Good Deals and the Great Outdoors

Renters are on the hunt for open-air amenities, more space, and a better deal in the city they already live in as 2021 unfolds, according to a recent RENTCafé survey on how renters’ preferences have changed as a result of the pandemic. 

An improvement in lifestyle was the main driver for the more than 10,000 people who participated in the survey while searching for an apartment on rentcafe.com. The top features respondents searched for a year into the pandemic included open-air amenities (21%) and more space (20%)—data that stands in stark contrast to RENTCafe’s March 2020 survey, where top drivers were price and safety. In addition, space and open air amenities were more important to renters than WFH amenities like home offices.