Question: What time of the year is most and least favorable for putting a property on the market for rent?
Answer: The rental market follows similar seasonal trends as the resale market in that spring tends to be the best time to list a property and the market is slowest during the winter months. For this market analysis, I looked at all rentals in Arlington from 2015-2019 (I kept 2020 out because it’s an anomaly) to determine how the month a property is listed for rent impacts a landlord’s negotiation leverage and the days on market. I split the data into apartment-style properties and detached/townhouse properties to see if there was much variability, but the trends are similar for all property types.
Best Months to List: March – July
Worst Months to List: September – December
The data I looked at to determine the best and worse months are the percentage of the final rental price to the original asking price (indication of how much leverage landlords have), the average days on market, and the percentage of properties rented within two weeks of being listed for rent. These data points provide some of the best indications of how successful you will be renting a property at different times of the year.
While there are clearly certain months of the year that are better/worse to rent, I think it’s also important to note that the gap between the best and worst month(s) is not massive, but it’s enough that landlords should work to put themselves on a spring/early summer leasing cycle and avoid signing leases that expire in the late fall/winter.
If you are a tenant, you can expect the most properties coming to market from May – July and a dramatic reduction in options from October – December.
If you’d like to discuss buying, selling, investing, or renting, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at [email protected].
