Early signals of demand in the rental market

Interest in finding a new rental home is distinctly seasonal, with periods of high and low interest coinciding with holidays and other events.

We analysed search terms put into Google over the past five years and found that the query ‘flats to rent near me’ has produced a distinct pattern, revealing the times of the year when people are most likely to be considering a move.

More importantly, keeping watch on this search term could be a valuable early signal of how much demand to expect because it peaks consistently in advance of new leasing activity.

By far the most active time for prospective new renters to be searching is the New Year holiday with a second peak in the period between Easter and the summer break. Interest falls to its lowest level just before Christmas and during the summer – when presumably other distractions take precedence. Source: #Dataloft, Google, search average over last five years