Gephardt Busts Inflation: Rent prices down nationwide but very high in Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — All over the country, the cost of rent is finally starting to go down. But that is not the case here in Utah.

Data from rent.com shows that the rental market is trending downwards. The national rent dipped below the $2,000 mark for the first time in six months. Rent prices are still up from pre-pandemic levels, but they are less up.

They even went down in the last months of summer, a time when rent prices tend to go up, Jon Leckie of rent.com said.

“That gives us hope that this is a little stickier than just sort of a blip,” he said.

But maybe less hope here in the Beehive state.

Nationally, rents have gone up 7.8% between October of last year and October of this year. But in Utah, as a state, we are still up double that to 15.4%.

As for why Utah is not going down, the data suggests people from outside the state have figured out this is a pretty good place to live and are continuing to migrate here in droves keeping demand high.

“Places like New York, from Denver, from Phoenix, now, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, these are all people coming in to Salt Lake City,” Leckie said. “I think that’s having another big effect on why my rents are going up there.”

Rent.com expects prices will continue to decline throughout the fall and winter and then probably pick up again in the spring and summertime.

Now the bad news for those looking to rent a new place: the inflated prices will likely never return to pre-pandemic levels Leckie said.

“I think our rent levels have risen and they’re going to stay that way,” he added.

Though with the moves by the Fed seeming to have their desired impacts, he thinks the price fluctuations will be returning to normal.

“Those year-over-year changes will be more in line with sort of our historical trends,” he said.