Suburban Philadelphia is one of 2022’s hottest residential rental markets in the country thanks to the high renewal rates of leases, a growing prospective renters’ pool, and relatively few apartment buildings being constructed, writes Ryan Mulligan for the Philadelphia Business Journal.

A new report from RentCafe places suburban Philadelphia as the 12th-most-competitive rental market in the nation. The suburbs saw high competition for any available rental units throughout the entire year due to the work-from-home trends that are having lasting effects on city rental markets.

Philadelphia suburbs saw a competitiveness score of 89.5 compared to 48.5 in the core Philadelphia market. In both markets, the average rental property remained vacant for 38 days and both had occupancy rates in the mid-90s. Meanwhile, the suburbs had 14 prospective renters vying for an average listing, compared to 13 in Philadelphia.

“We’re seeing more applications in the suburbs, that’s one of the biggest weighting factors,” said Doug Ressler, an analyst for Yardi Systems, RentCafe’s owner.

In addition, those who are already in the suburbs are choosing to stay. The lease renewal rate in suburban Philadelphia in 2022 was 78 percent, which is the second-highest in the country. Read more about the residential rental markets in the Philadelphia Business Journal.