Rental assistance is what residents are looking for on Google.
Renter search trends are changing, mainly due to the pandemic. Point2 analyzed Google searches and search terms to determine how renters’ online behavior has changed during the pandemic.
Certain phrases saw exponential growth year-over-year and over the past two years. For example, the search “rent relief” showed up 90 times per month in 2019, yet that number jumped to 9,900 searches per month in 2020 and nearly 50,000 in 2021. Also, “eviction moratorium” was searched for 40 times per month in 2019, but that jumped to 40,500 in 2020 and more than 200,000 in 2021.
One item to note is that not only did pandemic-driven related searches increase but the overall number of searches is up across the board. “Apartments for rent near me” was searched for 550,000 in 2019, up to 673,000 in 2020 and 823,000 in 2021.
Amenities remained important for renters as “apartment with balcony,” up 123% from 2019 to 2020, showed the third highest increase between years after the previously mentioned “eviction moratorium” and “rent relief.”
Between 2020 and 2021, “rent assistance” was third with an 83% increase. “Pet friendly rent” jumped 50% year-over-year.