We compare hundreds of hotels on a single screen and know the exact price before we pay. But if you need to rent an apartment in another city or country for a month or more — you still have to call local agents, navigate foreign websites in a language you don’t speak, and hope the price in the listing matches what you’ll actually pay. One of the biggest consumer markets in the world has been left behind by technology. Until now.
Long-term rental is one of the largest consumer markets on the planet — worth more than $1.8 trillion a year. And yet it works the same way it did twenty years ago. Someone looking for an apartment in another country runs into the same problems every time: local agents, unclear terms, language barriers, no easy way to compare options across cities or borders. Every country has its own real estate websites — but they only work within their own market and offer little help to someone moving from abroad.
Short-term rental platforms technically cover longer stays too — but their pricing is built for tourists. When you calculate a monthly cost from a nightly rate, you end up paying 30–60% more than the real local market price. People overpay not because it makes sense, but because there was no convenient alternative. That is exactly the gap XMetr was built to fill.
XMetr is a platform for finding long-term rental housing. It operates in more than 167 countries and only shows listings available for one month or longer. No tourist pricing — just the real long-term rental market. The search is designed for people who are moving, not visiting: you can filter by furnished apartments, bills included, pets allowed, proximity to public transport, or a specific neighbourhood. Every listing shows the language spoken by the owner or agent — a small detail that saves a lot of time when you are searching in a foreign country and want to know you can actually communicate before you reach out.
Rental terms on the platform are clearly stated. Listings come from both private owners and agencies — but there are no hidden fees. The final price is visible upfront. You can compare listings from different countries in one place — something that was simply impossible to do before without local help.
More and more people need housing in another country. They move for work, for study, for the freedom to work remotely from anywhere. According to the UN, more than 280 million people currently live outside the country where they were born — and all of them need a place to stay. At the same time, new EU regulations are limiting short-term rentals in cities, pushing property owners toward long-term leases and adding more supply to exactly the segment where XMetr operates.
Property owners get direct access to an international audience without going through intermediaries. Renters get honest prices and a straightforward search in one place. Agents get the ability to work beyond their own city and reach clients from other countries. The long-term rental market has been waiting for a proper digital tool for a long time. It looks like it has finally arrived.
