Buffalo, New York.
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Prices in the condominium market show no signs of slowing down, and an increasing number of renters are refraining from purchasing. And rents are starting to rise again, with more tenants moving to cheaper markets.
Buffalo, New York. Chicago and Houston have seen the biggest increases in out-of-town searches. JiroNew Orleans and Dallas follow, according to real estate listing sites. In markets like Salt Lake City that are already seeing significant population influx. Raleigh, North Carolina. Hartford, Connecticut. and Nashville, Tennessee. Zillow found that out-of-town searches outnumber local searches.
Rental demand is typically a leading indicator of home sales.
“Renting is often a way for people to try out a new community before committing, and seeing markets where the proportion of rental searches from outside the metro is increasing suggests a developing pipeline,” Zillow Chief Economist Misha Fisher said in a release. “The year-over-year jump in views in out-of-town locations like Buffalo and Chicago suggests a wave of new entrants may not be far away.”
Markets with the highest renter interest are also seeing lower home prices. The national median price for existing homes sold in July was $434,100, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Buffalo, Chicago and Houston all have lower median prices, according to Realtor.com.
Rents have been trending down in recent years due to increased supply in most markets, but are now trending upward again. According to Apartment List, rents in August turned positive month-on-month for the first time in four years, but were still slightly lower than in August 2025.
Most out-of-town rental searches on Zillow come from neighboring states, with the only exception being New York City. Zillow says local renters continue to look for properties in the Sunbelt, with Raleigh and the Florida cities of Miami, Orlando and Tampa accounting for the majority of views.
“When we see strong out-of-town interest flowing into smaller markets, it’s often an affordability story. So renters in more expensive locations are choosing or discovering they can get more money in a new location,” Fisher said. “When the flow goes in the opposite direction, toward metropolitan areas, it’s often a regional pull, with people drawn to the metropolitan job market and nearby opportunities.”
Despite the massive migration to the South during and after the pandemic, that trend continues as these markets remain more affordable than the East and West Coasts. Both lifestyle and affordability will influence your decision.
In fact, 37 of RentCafe’s top 50 cities for renters are in the South. The top three cities are McKinney, Texas; Huntsville, Alabama. and Austin, Texas. The ranking takes into account cost of living, rental income growth, and employment growth, among other things.
