NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – Rent prices nationwide increased at record rates in 2022, and while the end of the year brought a slight cool down, the news wasn’t sweet music to the ears of renters in Music City.
“Rents are down month over month nationally about 1.4%, and up 1.4% month over month in Nashville,” researcher for Rent.com Jon Leckie explained.
The website’s latest monthly rent report proves Nashville is still an “it” city. While there’s slight fluctuation month to month, Leckie pointed out people should review year-over-year figures to understand the big picture, especially when renters typically sign yearly leases.
“If we go back a full two years, the median price nationally was $1,649, which is about $330 less than today’s price. Over a two-year period, that’s a 20% increase. I don’t know anyone who got a 20% raise over the last two years,” Leckie said.
In Nashville, rents are up roughly 11.5%.
“That’s the fifth highest year-over-year change we saw among the 50 metros that we look at in our study,” Leckie said.
And that’s been the trend in the city of Nashville since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. Look back to 2020; the average rent price was $1,524. The following year, it rose to $2,088 and last year closed at $2,288. That’s $764 more a month in just two years.
“Tennessee as a whole had one of the highest rates of inbound migration we saw over the third quarter in 2022,” said Leckie.
People moved mostly from Chicago, followed by New York, two major cities with high rent prices.
“People who are used to paying more, they come to a place where it’s maybe a little bit cheaper which will help drive up the prices along with sort of demand,” Leckie said.
So while the days of dramatic jumps month-to-month may be over, year-over-year people are shelling out more to live here.
“Maybe the storm is over, but you know that the ship is still leaking a little bit,” Leckie said. “And we have some other work to do, I think, to figure out how to get people in a place where they can comfortably afford a place to live.”
