High home prices and a lack of new apartments, combined with remote workers slowly returning to tech-driven California cities like Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Cupertino, Sunnyvale and Mountain View has seen a sharp rise in apartment renting competitiveness in the region. A new study from RentCafe places Silicon Valley at number 27 nationally in the website’s annual ranking.

The report, based on apartment occupancy rate, average total days vacant, prospective renters per vacant unit, renewal lease rate and newly-constructed apartments available, uses a weighted scoring system to rank 134 rental markets throughout the United States. 

Silicon Valley’s rental competitiveness (RCI) score jumped from 22 to 68 in just one year’s time, mainly due to more prospective renters and significantly fewer new apartments available. Western Los Angeles also saw a large RCI increase compared to early 2022 while Orange County and East Los Angeles remain two of the hottest rental markets, both in the Golden State and nationally. 

Hear from CRE industry leaders like TruAmerica Multifamily President & CEO Bob Hart. Come together with top dealmakers, owners, investors, lenders and more at Connect LA on May 3 at the Hotel Indigo.