In this video, Kevin Moyer of The Rowe Report provides a data‑driven market update for Philadelphia’s residential leasing market covering January through March 2026. He highlights a sharp rise in market activity, noting an all‑time‑high in leads per listing in February 2026 and an 87% year‑over‑year increase in median leads per day for March. Median days on market have fallen from 75 in January to 56, with expectations of further declines into the 40s later in the year. Applications per listing jumped 110% YoY to over eight applications per unit, suggesting landlords may have room to raise rents. Average price cuts remain modest at 2.5 per listing but are trending downward. City‑wide average rent is up 2% YoY—still below inflation—but combined with a 1% drop in total units on the market (Zillow data), the supply‑demand balance is tilting toward landlords. Moyer interprets these trends as a shift from a tenant‑favored market back toward landlord leverage, forecasting rent growth and improved cash‑flow prospects for property owners. The video also promotes The Rowe Report’s bi‑weekly newsletter for deeper insights.
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Hey guys, Kevin Moyer with The Rowe Report here. I want to share with you some information about the Philadelphia leasing market in Q1 of 2026, so January through March of 2026. What's the temperature in the Philadelphia leasing market? We have the data right here. I'm about to go through it in a minute. Hey, if you're not subscribed to The Rowe Report, it's a bi-weekly newsletter, you really should. It's got some great data, great anecdotes. It will make you a better investor and help increase your returns on your property. There's a link to that in the description of this video, again, to subscribe to the Rowe Report. Without further ado, let's dive right in. So I want to take a step back and just show the general heat in the market here. So you can see February was the most— the highest leads per listing on average that we've collected here in over 2 years. So February of 2024 was pretty good— March of 2024, rather. And February of 2026 is a new all-time high. So We are getting leads for rental properties in ways that we haven't over the last 2 years. This is really encouraging and really necessary for the Philadelphia market. So again, you can see a cooler temperature here. 2025 was ice cold through the, the October holiday season, and now it's picked, picked up dramatically and we're feeling it. I'll show you some more data here. Let's look at the median days on market for our listings. So we're coming off a high in January of 75, which was Um, down 1% versus a year ago, but this is already really starting to drop. Look, we're 56 median days on market now, so the median time you can expect the listing to stay on market before you get a signed lease, and that is a 10% improvement over where we were a year ago at this same time. So April is still hot, um, we're feeling really good. I think this number is going to dip into the 40s in April, May, or June. And we'll have further improvement from there. I think we're, I think you're going to be seeing it lower than we were last summer for our median days on market. Let's look at the median leads per day. Again, this is how many leads a middle-of-the-road listing is receiving per day. And this is an important metric to gauge how many people are essentially looking at your listing and potentially interested in being an applicant. March this year was up 87% over a year ago. The median leads that we're getting per listing. So the temperature is just so much greater this season, uh, January, February. It's been encouraging all throughout Q1. Preliminary April data also looks good as well. So this goes in line with everything that we're seeing— the higher temperature, more activity, the market shifting away from a tenant market back to a landlord market to a degree. How many applications are we receiving per listing here? January was quiet, but that really picked up in February, and then March significantly up 110% for the median applications that we're receiving per listing, up to over 8 applications per listing. Now what this shows me is that there's going to be room for some rent increase, which if you read the article in the RO Report is necessary. I hate to say it, I hate to be that guy that wants rents to increase, but it is necessary to create an equilibrium in the market, and I think you're going to see room to do that. So we're going to keep that in mind when it comes time to our to— for our renewals and for our leasing for the rest of this season. Average price cuts, you haven't really seen this yet, we're still kind of high. So we still average 2.5 price cuts per listing. You're seeing it dip off preliminarily in April data, and I do think when we do this Q2 report, I think you'll see that continue to drift downward. Let's look at the market competition. So you see March, this is average rent across the entirety of Philadelphia courtesy of apartments.com. We're up 2% year over year in rent. That's a little bit below inflation. I think you'll see that continue to separate. The overall trend line you can see on this data is actually down. Rents have not been increasing where they really have to yet, but I think you'll start to see some separation. If you just look at this trend where we're coming through so far through Q1, I think you'll continue to see that creep up. So long story short, I think rents will be increasing. I think you'll see some alleviation of that pressure and that financial squeeze from a cash flow perspective that landlords have seeing recently in the market. Here's an interesting note: for the first time since August, we actually see fewer units on market in March year over year. So this is all of Zillow, everything on the market. We actually have 1% fewer units on market compared to a year ago. Less competition, less supply, increase in quantity, increase in price for the same quantity demand. So I think you're going to see rents increase. That's the long story short here, people. Stay tuned. Again, don't forget to subscribe to The Rowe Report for more information like this and insights into the Philadelphia market. Thanks.
