Wasatch Front apartments cheaper but emptier

Renting an apartment along the Wasatch Front is getting a little less expensive, according to a report released this week.

The Apartment Realty Advisors Mid-Year 2009 Greater Salt Lake Multi-Family Report said that overall rental rates fell to $738 per month from $753 at year-end 2008, while vacancy rates climbed a bit from 6.6 percent at year's end to 7.8 percent for mid-year 2009.

Among the four counties surveyed in the report, Salt Lake County had the highest average rents at $756, followed by Davis County at $714 per month. Utah County charged an average of $710 per month, with Weber County having the cheapest monthly rents, at $644.

Vacancy rates in the four counties ranged from a low of 6.7 percent in Utah County to Weber County's high of 9.5 percent — a 36 percent jump from the same period last year. Davis County's was 7.0 percent, while Salt Lake County had 7.8 percent. Despite the hike in Weber County, apartment rents also increased from $633 at midyear 2008 to $644 midyear 2009, the report noted.

The data were compiled from a comprehensive survey of more than 70,000 apartment units conducted by the Apartment Realty Advisors Research Group.

As for what is causing the changes in the rental housing market, the head of the state nonprofit landlord trade group said it boils down to one word: "jobs."

"(Utah) has lost a significant number of jobs this year," L. Paul Smith, executive director of the Utah Apartment Association, told the Deseret News. "So that's why were seeing a reduction in demand and a little softening in the market."

He said the job losses and corresponding financial struggles have forced many families and individuals to make some dramatic adjustments in their living arrangements.

"When we don't have jobs, we move in with our family or 'bunk up' together," he said. "What that does is it decreases demand on rental housing."

Smith added that low demand also negatively impacts the development of new rental units, meaning that it may be a while before the landscape changes.

"If we start to see an increase of jobs ... we'll start going in the other direction," he said.

"It's all tied to jobs."

E-MAIL: jlee@desnews.com