There’s good news and not so good news for renters in the Wasatch Front, according to a new report from Wadsworth Multifamily, a Salt Lake City-based housing brokerage.

The good news: More rental apartments across the area are offering prospective tenants more incentives, such as two months of rent-free time when they sign a new lease. Additionally, Utah County rental prices are down slightly from the same period last year — about 1.7 percent. And more good news: In Salt Lake, Davis, Weber and Utah counties, wage growth outpaced rent growth.

The bad news is more what renters are familiar with: From Q2 2023 to Q2 2024, rent prices in Salt Lake County increased 1.5 percent, and rent prices in Davis and Weber County increased about 1.3 percent, according to the report. These increases are occurring even as more new rental housing is being built.

But even as average rent prices in Salt Lake, Davis and Weber are rising, the report shows that rental prices have largely stabilized and are far from the previous rental price spikes that began in 2020.

Not surprisingly, the report found that renting a home is still cheaper than buying in Salt Lake, Davis, Weber and Utah counties, due to stubbornly high home prices and interest rates that have only recently fallen after reaching their highest levels in more than two decades.

Salt Lake area

Specifically, for renters in Utah’s largest county, rent prices quietly rose an average of 1.5 percent through the second quarter of 2024 compared to 2023, the report said. The overall vacancy rate in Salt Lake County also rose to 7.1 percent, the highest level since 2020 and the second highest since at least 2014.

The vacancy rates are higher when newly built apartment buildings are included. For buildings in need of renovation, the rate is 3%.

The report says the price increases come at a time of “record pace” of housing growth, with over 13,500 units currently under construction and about 25,000 planned. However, many new construction projects are likely to be delayed due to interest rates and rising construction costs.

Downtown continues to have the highest vacancy rate in the city. On average, 11 percent of downtown apartments are vacant, according to the Wadsworth Multifamily report, and new renters can get about a month’s worth of concessions when signing a lease – and up to 10 weeks rent-free in some properties.

Real estate prices also continue to rise. According to the report, the median home price in Salt Lake County is $550,000 – an increase of 5.5 percent, or $30,000, from the same period last year.

Davis and Weber counties

In Davis and Weber counties, rents rose 1.3 percent in the second quarter. While that’s up from 0.8 percent a year ago, it’s still well below the historical average. (In the second quarter of 2019, for example, rents rose 6.3 percent.)

However, the report notes that “rents in the Ogden area have remained fairly stable since peaking at $1,616 per month in fall 2022.” The overall vacancy rate in Davis and Weber averages 8.7 percent, up from 6.3 percent last year. Adjusted for new units coming into rental, the vacancy rate is about 3.7 percent.

About 2,350 new housing units were built in the two counties in 2023, and an estimated 3,500 units are under construction. About 8,500 units are planned, according to the report. Since January, the median price of single-family homes has increased 2.5 percent to $485,000.

Utah area

Unlike other counties along the Wasatch River, Utah County’s rental prices have dropped 1.7 percent from last year – a monthly decrease of about $28. Despite this decline, the average rent in the county is about $1,649 per month, which is 30 percent higher than in 2020.

The recent decline in average rent is likely due to the increase in new housing construction. According to the report, there are over 4,400 housing units under construction in Utah County and another 9,900 planned.

The vacancy rate in Utah County is estimated to be about 8.6%, and after adjusting for new, leased properties, that number drops to about 3.1%. Concessions in the county offer an average of about two weeks of rent-free housing, with some properties offering up to eight weeks of rent-free housing to new residents.

The median home price in Utah County has increased 4.2 percent since last year and now averages $506,000.

Email Jacob Scholl