Rents in Las Vegas Expected to Remain at High Levels for Time Being, Report Says

LAS VEGAS, NV – The high rents that many Las Vegas residents have been struggling with recently are expected to remain at their current levels for the time being, according to a new report.

The one-two punch combination of 40-year high levels of national inflation and increased interest rates brought about by the Federal Reserve’s several recent rate hikes – done in an attempt to curb inflation – have contributed greatly to the strain that’s hitting many Southern Nevada renter’s wallets, said Las Vegas economist Mike PeQueen.

“Rent is probably the single largest expense for anybody at this point,” he said. “While it’s a bad sign for the community, it’s not really unexpected because we’ve all watched with interest the last couple of years as residential real estate prices have increased. That is great for people that own homes. For people that rent residential units, it makes the price of living in residential units more expensive, and that over time does hurt a community.”

In addition to inflation and higher interest rates, the realities of supply and demand have also remained a constant factor; simply put, there are fewer apartments in Vegas than people who want to rent them, allowing some landlords and property managers to charge premium rates.

Also, the mid-2000’s recession saw a drastic reduction in the number of homes being built; that, coupled with another construction decrease during the COVID-19 pandemic, has resulted in a high degree of scarcity when it comes to residential homes. With that being the case, many prospective homebuyers are turning to rentals to tide them over, exacerbating the demand for them even more and correspondingly driving up rent even further.

Currently, the average rent for a 2-bedrrom apartment in Las Vegas runs $1,600 a month, with that number reaching as high as $1,800 in more affluent and in-demand places such as Henderson.

PeQueen notes, however, that rents will eventually drop down to more manageable levels once more apartments and houses are built in Southern Nevada and the national economy stabilizes; it will just take some time for that to happen, he said.

“Until we see lower interest rates, and a chance for developers to catch up with what’s in the pipeline of building already, we’re probably not going to see much relief on rents,” PeQueen said. “We have seen recently the rate of increase of rents in Southern Nevada has started to top out. So I don’t think they’re going to shoot up a lot from here, but we’re probably not going to see decreases in rent at this time.”

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.