Rent prices up 66% in Utah County over the pandemic

PROVO, Utah — A new report from a Utah-based property management company finds five Utah counties saw rent prices soar over the last 18-months.

Chase Harrington, the president, and COO of Entrata said it’s all down to supply and demand — low supply, high demand.

Harrington tells the Deseret News, the research shows Utah County had the largest increase in rental prices of 66%,  Davis County to the north came in lower with its rent prices up by an average of 59%.

Harrington said there are several factors contributing to rise:

1.  Utah was the fastest-growing state in the country over the last 10 years
2.  The tech sector at the ‘Silicone Slopes’ made Utah County the fastest growing area in the state
3. The pandemic accelerated the increase in demand as more people fled larger cities and moved to more rural parts of Utah
4.  Millineals are now driving the rental market and they want more flexibility in their lives

Harrington said the last point is what is driving the number of people choosing month-to-month renting up 330% overall in the last year.  With Utah County seeing the brunt of that with an astounding 660% increase in monthly leases.

He said younger renters want more flexibility as they move to the next phase of their lives.  And the uncertainty of the pandemic reduces long-term rental contracts.

The research also uncovered rents are being paid later and later.  With delinquent rents up 357% over the last two years.  

The pandemic is what spurred the major changes to Utah’s real estate and rental markets, said Harrington.  Affordable housing is becoming more and more elusive.

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Priced Out: Rentals? Too few, too expensive to be affordable

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