Thanks to a soar in rental activity in February, Philadelphia is now among the 10 most sought-after cities for renters, writes Ryan Mulligan for the Philadelphia Business Journal. 

According to the newest monthly report from RentCafe, which measures website traffic for listings in the 150 largest cities in the U.S., Philadelphia jumped 42 spots from January to now rank at No. 7. 

The major increase comes as the city sees a major influx of new apartments and potential homebuyers are waiting while rates remain high.

The number of people visiting RentCafe’s website to search for Philadelphia apartments nearly tripled year over year in February, up 189 percent.

Beyond that, 46 percent of local users saved searches on RentCafe last month.

“[The high renter activity] is sustainable in Philadelphia,” said Doug Ressler, an analyst with RentCafe parent company, Yardi. “We are seeing this migration back to the urban core.”

Two major factors that point to why are the challenging home-buying environment coupled with an influx of new apartment supply. 

The report mentions that “a great portion of” Philadelphia apartment seekers are coming from New York and Boston. 

The average rent in Philadelphia currently sits at $1,887 per month, with an average apartment size of 790 square feet.

Read more about the increase in renter activity taking place in Philadelphia at the Philadelphia Business Journal.

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