Salt Lake rents begin to fall
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
A building boom across the Mountain West has cooled rents — but that relief could fade as new construction slows.
Why it matters: Housing is unaffordable for many. Although the median U.S. rent for new leases is down 1.5% from a year ago, it's still roughly 20% above pre-pandemic levels, at about $1,400 a month, per Apartment List.
- And a new Harvard report finds a record number of renters are "cost-burdened," spending more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities.
Zoom in: The median rent in the Salt Lake metro was down 2.4% this February from a year earlier.
- That's the 9th sharpest decline among more than 50 of the nation's biggest metro areas.
Zoom out: Other cities in the Mountain West posted even bigger declines: Nearly 5% in Denver, more than 4% in Phoenix and Tucson, and more than 3% in Las Vegas.
The other side: Rental markets are getting tighter in the Midwest, Northeast and parts of the West Coast.
Between the lines: High building costs and a glut of supply in places like the Sun Belt have made developers cautious about starting new projects.
- When new units do arrive, they're mostly luxury apartments.
Meanwhile, more people are renting — partly because homebuying remains out of reach — keeping rents from falling much further nationwide.
What we're watching: Rents could climb soon as more people move in summer.