CultureMap Austin shares, "A new market trend report from Zillow has confirmed that pet-friendly rentals are leasing much faster than non-pet-friendly units, and Austin's rental market had the No. 1 most pet-friendly rental listings on Zillow in 2024.
The report, called "Saying Yes to Pets Helps Landlords Find a Tenant Faster," analyzed more than 11 million rental listings that appeared on Zillow last year to discover the share of pet-friendly rental listings in the biggest U.S. metros. The report also calculated the median number of days it took for pet-friendly units to find a tenant, in comparison to than those that did not allow pets.
The Lone Star State as a whole led the nation with the most pet-friendly rental listings on Zillow. Nationally, only 57 percent of rental listings in the U.S. allowed pets, which is a disappointing amount when compared to the major Texas cities.
The data revealed Austin has a deep appreciation for pets, with 80 percent of rental listings in the city allowing tenants to have furry best friends.
Falling second to Austin was Dallas, whose pet-friendly rentals accounted for 79 percent of all citywide listings on Zillow in 2024. San Antonio was right behind Dallas with the third highest share of rentals that allowed pets, at 78 percent. Don't mess with Texas pets, y'all.
Surprisingly, Houston appeared at the bottom of the list as the U.S. metro with the smallest share of rental listings that allowed pets: just 38 percent.
The report additionally found that pet-friendly rentals in Austin were leased 10 days faster than units that don't allow pets. For comparison, the median pet-friendly rental across the U.S. leased about eight days sooner than its non-pet-friendly counterpart.
In a separate survey of the "typical American renter," Zillow discovered more than half of renters declined to lease a certain property because it didn't allow pets.
"Renters have more leverage than in quite some time after last year's multifamily construction boom, and the data show allowing pets can make a difference in leasing out a unit quickly," the report said. "The median renter is getting older, and more renters now have a pet. Nearly six in 10 renters are pet owners, up from 46 percent before the pandemic."
In San Antonio, rentals that allow pets lease six days sooner than non-pet-friendly units, and that number slows down to three days sooner in Dallas and just one day faster in Houston."
Source: CultureMap Austin
Written by: Amber Heckler
Published: July 4, 2025
Posted by Grossman & Jones Group on
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