Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — For many renters in Salt Lake City, affordable, high-quality rental options feel few and far between.
These feelings are more than just sentiments, as a recent study from RentCafe named Salt Lake City as the most competitive rental market in the West, ahead of cities like Boise, Denver, Las Vegas and Phoenix, among others.
To determine the rankings, the study analyzed 137 rental markets to identify America's most competitive rental spots using five key indicators: the number of days apartments were vacant, the share of apartments that were occupied, the number of renters applying for the same apartment, the share of renters renewing their leases and the share of new apartments completed.
These metrics were used to determine a Rental Competitivity Index that shows how competitive each rental market is this rental season. Nationally, Salt Lake City ranked 34th with a Rental Competitivity Index of 64, down from 75 in 2022 but still above the national score of 60.
Despite being more favorable for renters than a year ago, many are still feeling the heat.
Brian Higgins, a copywriter on the creative marketing team at Deseret Digital Media, has lived in Salt Lake City for over five years. Over the time he's been in the area, he's seen a big change in the rental market — specifically near downtown.
"When I first moved here, I heard about people who could live on their own for about $500, $600, $700 a month and I think that's pretty much, like, extinct now," Higgins said.
According to data from RentCafe, a prospective-renter in Salt Lake City has to compete with 10 others to secure a lease — slightly above the national average of nine prospective renters applying for the same vacant apartment.
Additionally, Salt Lake City is still far from meeting the growing demand for rental units despite a 0.61% uptick in recently constructed apartments. That's significantly less than one year ago, when the local supply of housing increased by 0.94%.
"As a consequence, prospective renters have very limited options to choose from, especially as nearly 54% of apartment dwellers chose to renew their leases this rental season, slightly below the national benchmark of 59.7%," said the report. "This indicates that almost half of renters are actively seeking a new place to call home in the area — but still the 54% share of those who stayed put is high enough to make the market competitive."
Having just moved out of a one-bedroom apartment of his own, Higgins is now sharing another one-bedroom apartment with his girlfriend. He said their plan is to look for a bigger place but they might be forced to stay in the one-bedroom unit for a while.
"It's a pretty competitive market when you do find something," Higgins said, adding that the competitiveness is compounded for pet owners. "Some places have pet rent and/or a pet deposit. But a lot of properties simply have a no-pets rule, which filters out a lot of the places you can even apply to if you have a pet. And somewhere like Salt Lake, which is a really dog-friendly city, otherwise, this feels like a real disconnect in favor of the property owners."
According to a February study from the University of Utah Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, average asking prices for rental units increased more in the two-year period between 2020 and 2022 than between 2010 and 2020.
"Between 2010 and 2020, asking rents increased 2.6% in Salt Lake County, between 2020 and 2022 the rate of change was 11.0%," said the study.
Despite a slight softening in Salt Lake City's rental market compared to a year ago, there are still plenty of factors — even beyond cost — that make finding a place to live in the area burdensome for renters.
