Lafayette rental market No. 6 among small U.S. markets | Business

The Lafayette market has the sixth-most competitive market among mid-sized markets in the U.S. when it comes to finding an apartment for the start of the upcoming rental season, one agency said.

RentCafe, a national apartment service, ranked the Lafayette area that high based on the number of days a unit is vacant, its occupancy rate, the average number of prospective renters a unit gets and the market’s lease renewal rate. The region moved up nine places from last year’s rankings and had a rental competitive index score of 86.

It ranked high for its 96.4 occupancy rate, which was the highest among all the small markets listed in the survey, average number of prospective renters (13, which ranked sixth) and average days a unit sits vacant (36, which was fourth). Yet it fared lower in lease renewal rate at 64%.

The southwest Louisiana region, ranging from Calcasieu to West Baton Rouge parishes, also rose in the rankingsm, the report indicated. Its lease renewal rate jumped from 58.1% to 67.1% — mainly due to no new apartments opening in those areas recently — and had a RCI score of 77, which was up 12.3 points from a year ago.

Markets along the Gulf Coast rose in the rankings from a year ago, as Palm Beach County, Florida, had the biggest jump at 14 points.

RentCafe compiled its annual list by analyzing data from 137 rental markets in the U.S. obtained directly from market-rate large-scale multifamily properties of at least 50 units. Data was compiled from January to March.

The Lafayette region, which had some of the highest rents in the state in 2021 as reported by national research agency Apartment List, had an overall median rental rate of $1,014 in June, which was the lowest among the state’s six regions, data shows.