For New York renters, convenience is king

Renters in New York want what they want, and they want it now.

In the city’s ruthless, blink-and-it’s-gone rental market, speed and convenience are everything, as new data on Naked Apartments’ Viewings on Demand feature reveal.

The feature allows rental seekers on the site to press a button and ping brokers with a request for a showing. The charts the company provided to The Real Deal analyzed 100,000 users requests; all the requests that have been made since Naked Apartments integrated the feature in 2013.

From the data, it’s clear the time most often specified by renters is “now.” Nearly half of renters asked for a showing the same day, with 68 percent uninterested in waiting more than a day or two.

Data on when renters want to view an apartment

Request activity peaks during the early part of the work day, when there’s presumably nothing better to do. Many of the showings, 27 percent, were made between 9 a.m. and noon, with the peak between 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.

As for when renters want their viewings, it’s ultimately when they find it convenient. Requested times were concentrated around lunch – with 43 percent of requests calling for appointments between noon and 3 p.m. – and just after, with an additional 26 percent between 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.