Best State for Renters? Not Where You Think.

For three consecutive years, the best rental market in America has been in the Upper Midwest.

Nina Dale
April 16, 2026

Together with

Good morning. If you think the best rental markets are in the Sun Belt or coastal hotspots, the data says otherwise. The places renters are actually winning look nothing like the markets investors are piling into—and that disconnect is getting wider.

Today’s issue is sponsored by Real Property Captive—stop overpaying commercial carriers and start retaining more of your insurance spend.

🎙️ This week on No Cap: Chris Hentemann (Founder & CIO, 400 Capital) breaks down how structured credit works, where capital is flowing, and why the biggest opportunities often emerge from market dislocations.

CRE Trivia 🧠

Who was the first and only woman to be prominently featured on U.S. paper currency?

(Answer at the bottom of the newsletter)

Market Snapshot

S&P 500

GSPC

7,022.95

Pct Chg:
+0.80%

FTSE NAREIT

FNER

822.31

Pct Chg:
-0.29%

10Y Treasury

TNX

4.281%

Pct Chg:
+0.025

SOFR

30-DAY AVERAGE

3.64%

Pct Chg:
-0.00

*Data as of 4/15/2026 market close.

Renter Nation

Best State for Renters? Not Where You Think.

The states with the best rental markets have almost nothing in common with the ones investors are chasing.

Flyover country wins again: For the third consecutive year, North Dakota ranks as the most renter-friendly state in the country, per ConsumerAffairs Research. Median rent sits at $954 — nearly a third below the national median — renters spend just 23.7% of their income on housing, and the state posts the highest vacancy rate in the nation at 8.3%.

Colorado's legal upgrade: Colorado jumped 42 places in the latest rankings to claim No. 2 — not because rents got cheaper (median is still $1,761), but because tenant protections got stronger. It's one of only five states with statewide rent-increase limits, a category that ConsumerAffairs significantly expanded this year. California climbed 33 places for the same reason.

Florida hits rock bottom: Florida ranks dead last, up from third-worst a year ago. Median rent runs 18% above the national median; the typical resident spends 37.4% of income on housing — the highest cost-burden in the country; and the state has no statewide renter protections in any of the four categories evaluated.

The regional divide: The Mountain West and Upper Midwest own the top 10. The South tells the opposite story: 11 of 16 Southern states land in the bottom half of the rankings, reflecting not just high costs but a near-total absence of legal infrastructure protecting tenants.

➥ THE TAKEAWAY

Chasing the wrong markets: The best rental markets for residents aren't the ones getting the capital, and for BTR operators, that gap between affordability and investment appetite is a retention problem waiting to happen.

TOGETHER WITH REAL PROPERTY CAPTIVE

Institutional Owners Have Used Captive Insurance For Decades

Institutional owners don't buy insurance the way you do. They own it through a captive insurance structure and turn unused premiums into retained profit.

Until now, that access stopped at $2B AUM.

Real Property Captive opens the same lender-approved structure to portfolios between $100M and $2B—a first of its kind.

Tired of your carrier and broker circling every renewal? They shouldn't be profiting from your clean record. That money belongs to you.

*This is a paid advertisement. Please see the full disclosure at the bottom of the newsletter.

✍️ Editor’s Picks

Continuity matters: Cardinal centralizes every tenant communication, issue, and document so your portfolio isn’t depend on one person’s inbox, it’s shared by the team. Start your free trial today. (sponsored)
Activist exit: Dan Loeb’s Third Point exited CoStar, abandoning its campaign as the firm’s Homes.com spending and stock slide undercut its investment thesis.
Power surge: A data center–driven boom is pushing U.S. utilities toward $1.4T in grid spending, raising concerns that soaring infrastructure costs will translate into higher electricity bills without regulatory reform.
Soft market: Multifamily owners can lower premiums and expand coverage now. Arcstone Insurance Advisors highlights timing, cost savings, and strategies before rates and terms tighten. (sponsored)
Credit rebound: Bank CRE lending rose in Q4 2025 as originations increased and delinquencies fell, though geopolitical risks cloud the outlook.
Server moratorium: Maine approved a first-in-the-nation pause on large data centers through 2027 to study grid strain, environmental impact, and rising power costs tied to AI demand.
Talent magnet: Affordable housing and solid wages are steering early-career workers to cities like D.C., as the cost of living increasingly dictates where young talent relocates.

🏘️ MULTIFAMILY

Policy paralysis: A stalled Senate housing bill has already frozen the build-to-rent market, halting investment and development as uncertainty over forced-sale rules sidelines capital.
99 problems: NYC developers are gaming a tax break by splitting larger projects into 99-unit buildings to avoid stricter wage and affordability rules while still building at scale.
Campus premium: A UCLA-adjacent student housing portfolio traded for $63M, highlighting continued investor demand for well-located assets despite uneven sector activity.

🏭 Industrial

Storage backlash: Rising self-storage supply is meeting growing local resistance, as communities push back against facilities seen as land-intensive and low-activation.
Industrial loan: MDH Partners secured $196M in financing to acquire a 1.6M SF, 91%-leased warehouse portfolio, doubling down on industrial.
Intel conversion: A former Intel site near Boston is set for a 950K SF industrial redevelopment, signaling continued repositioning of obsolete assets into logistics use.

🏬 RETAIL

Leasing balance: U.S. retail is stabilizing as service-oriented tenants drive demand, and limited new supply keeps vacancy tight despite lingering store closures.
Spending lift: Retail sales rose for a sixth straight month in March, as tax refunds helped offset inflation and fuel continued consumer spending.
Property king: Zara founder Amancio Ortega has built a $25B global real estate empire through steady, all-cash acquisitions of prime assets held for the long term.
Small deals: West LA retail posted its third straight quarter of positive absorption, with activity increasingly driven by smaller, targeted lease deals.

🏢 OFFICE

AI demand: AI firms are driving a surge in office leasing and boosting demand for premium space, even as automation threatens to shrink overall workplace needs.
Commission clash: Cushman & Wakefield is suing Sotheby’s for $10M, alleging it was cut out of a sale commission despite brokering the deal groundwork.
Credit backstop: Lenders are increasingly using letters of credit in office refinancings to manage leasing risk without requiring immediate equity injections.

🏨 HOSPITALITY

Green financing: A $200M Virginia wellness resort secured a record $65M C-PACE loan to fund sustainable infrastructure, highlighting the growing use of clean energy financing in CRE.
Resort refi: JPMorgan and Citi provided a $600M refinancing for the Diplomat Beach Resort, underscoring continued lender appetite for large hospitality assets.

A MESSAGE FROM HENRY

Raise Capital 50% Faster with Insitutional Quality OMs

Henry helps sponsors create polished, investor-ready deal decks that get LPs to yes faster.

Upload your OM, pro forma, or rough materials, and Henry builds a professional deck in minutes — not weeks. AI creates the first draft. Real analysts refine every detail.

No templates. No bottlenecks. Just institutional-quality presentations that stand out in investor inboxes and accelerate capital raises when timing matters most.

Send faster. Close sooner.

*This is a paid advertisement. Please see the full disclosure at the bottom of the newsletter.