The rental market in Salt Lake is historically robust, with rental prices climbing as demand continues to boom and vacancy sits at the second-lowest in over a decade. In the recent Apartment Market Report for the Greater Salt Lake Area commissioned by Cushman & Wakefield Commerce and authored by James Wood, research shows that the price of renting an apartment has climbed for the sixth year in a row. The influx is largely attributed to housing-needy young professionals, a demographic that proves to prefer a more urban environment.
The report recognizes 5 percent as the “natural state” for the vacancy in a strong rental market. Salt Lake comes in well under that equilibrium with a vacancy rate of 2.9 percent in July 2016, a level just shy of the record low of 2.7 percent.
With so few available units out there, many renters are faced with occupying new construction, driving prices up. Rental rates have risen a high 4.6 percent over the past year, the average cost of all types of units now $949, with a two-bedroom two-bath unit average of $1,085 and a three-bedroom unit priced at $1,244.
FIG helps accommodate for this robust renting market in the Salt Lake Valley with the Westridge development in West Valley City and two developments in Herriman, Payton’s Quarry, and The Overlook. With the housing demand so high and the need so great, Salt Lake continues to appear as a prime location to invest in multifamily real estate.