Out-of-town rental searches in Houston point to the metro as future relocation hotspot, a new Zillow analysis shows.

Over the past year, more than 35% of rental listing page views in Houston came from out-of-towners. That represents a 3.4% year-over-year surge in the metro — the third-highest annual increase of any major city in the country, behind Buffalo, New York (up 4.2%), and Chicago (up 3.7%).

While this trend signals a potential influx in Houston’s rental market, it could also point toward a future housing market boom, Zillow said.

“Renting is often how people try out a new community before committing. When we see a market with a growing share of rental searches coming from outside the metro, that tips us off to a developing pipeline,” Chief Economist Mischa Fisher said in a press release. “A year-over-year surge in out-of-town browsing in places like [Houston] tells us a wave of newcomers may not be far behind.”

A majority of Houston’s out-of-town would-be renters — 3% — are in Dallas, suggesting a potential in-state transition in the coming months and years.