NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Nashville was recently named one of the country’s fastest-growing metropolitan areas, and with plans to construct nearly 30,000 new units in the city and rent rising 3% over the national average, it’s clear our rental market is changing rapidly.

“We’re seeing a ton of people from California, Connecticut, Chicago, that I think are coming here with the expectation that Nashville is going to be significantly more affordable, but the reality of the situation is that Nashville is continuing to grow,” said Rachel Attarian, COO of Nashville Apartment Locators.

With the city’s growth, rent prices are growing too. According to Apartment Insiders, the average market rental rate for a Nashville apartment is sitting around $1,500 — roughly $100 more than the quarter prior.

We can partially blame the increase on COVID-19.

“Supply and demand always dictates the real estate market, and because a lot of those [apartment] buildings weren’t able to open when they planned on opening, the supply diminished, and, of course, the demand was still there so, of course, prices have increased as a result of that,” Attarian said, adding investors and management groups are moving here as quickly as the renters.

“I think what’s great is where going to see all of their influence on the Nashville market a lot of new ideas a lot of new concepts,” she said.

It’s currently playing out in the Gulch.

Property Markets Group, or PMG, is slated to build “Society Nashville” at 915 Division St. The mixed-use development is taking on a new approach with opportunities for both co-living and co-working.

Society Nashville will stand 16 stories with 471 units, 7,500 square feet of retail space and 463 parking spaces.

“We’ve really focused on smaller apartments but with a lot of shared space and a lot of shared amenities,” Dan Kaplan, Managing Partner at PMG said.

Once the building is completed in 2024, it will offer traditional units with efficient layouts, “Rent-by-Bedroom” (co-living) options, and oversized amenities including co-working spaces, modern gyms and fitness studios, communal kitchens, craft food and beverage operations, smart package lockers, app-based keys, integrated retail space and more.

“From a per-bedroom standpoint, they will probably stand around $1100 – $1200,” Kaplan said. “The tailwinds behind Nashville are so strong that what rents were when we bought the site, versus what they are now versus what they might be in 24 months from now I’m sure you know they’re all different numbers.”

It’s one of many buildings that will hopefully help with supply and demand.

“Moving into 2022, it’s pretty exciting because we are going to see a lot more supply and I think the balance will even out a little bit,” Attarian said. “Though I don’t know if prices will ever go back to golden years of, you know, when Nashville was a quant little big city, I think that we will see a little bit of a decrease in prices because supply will open up a little bit.”

Apartment Locators and Apartment Insiders are positioned as resources for people who need help finding an apartment in Nashville within their budget needs.

The latest data from Apartment Insiders shows there are currently 24,090 market-rate and affordable apartments units under construction in the Nashville Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) with an additional 26,257 planned apartment units under speculative construction.

Construction has been completed on 4,413 apartment units thus far in 2021.