Time on the market is a useful metric the multifamily industry can use to track the rental market along with other indicators including median rent and vacancy.
There is a strong relationship between time on the market and price, according to Apartment List, which recently introduced a time on the market data series. Landlords and property managers have more incentive to reduce rent to attract new tenants the longer an apartment sits vacant. Apartment List’s data shows that asking rents drop $10 for units that sit vacant on its platform for two weeks. For units listed for more than three months, asking rents fell more than $50.
In addition, the data found that time on market is highly seasonal, with apartments renting more quickly in the summer when housing demand is high. During the winter when fewer people are moving, it can take up to one extra week to fill a vacant unit. Apartment List said this correlates with asking rents, which are also seasonal.
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The data also revealed that time on market has been trending up steadily for three years, during which the country added more than 1.3 million new apartments. Even though housing demand rebounded from the pandemic, new supply more than kept pace and apartments have taken longer to fill, said Apartment List. The median time on market for units leased in November was 34 days, which is longer than any other November going back to 2019.
In 2021, when new household formation was increasing but construction was hindered due to the pandemic, time on market decreased 46%, from a median of 34 days in January to 18 days in August. At the same time, nationwide median rent grew 14% from $1,148 to $1,310. Since then, rapid multifamily construction has boosted time on market and suppressed rent growth, the firm said.
“We still see seasonal ups and downs, but on the whole, time on market is trending up while rents are trending down,” said Apartment List. “As of November 2024, time on market is up 9 percent year over year, while rents are down 1%.”
Localized time on market mirrors national trends, with Sun Belt markets including Austin, Phoenix, Raleigh and Miami displaying an exaggerated version of the national trend with list-to-lease time dropping sharply in 2021 and then surging to new highs in 2024.
However, in markets like Tulsa, Louisville and Washington, D.C., time on market has not rebounded as quickly from pandemic lows, which signals sustained rental demand and slower construction activity. As such, these metros are experiencing some of the fastest rent growth in the country, exceeding 3% year over year, said Apartment List.
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Kristen Smithberg
Kristen Smithberg is a Colorado-based freelance writer who covers commercial real estate, insurance, benefits and retirement topics for BenefitsPRO and other industry publications.
