Knoxville tops U.S. metro cities in 2022 rent growth

SCOTT NAPPI Staff Writer

According to a report from the National Association of Realtors, Knoxville’s rent rate grew at a faster rate than any other metro city in the United States in 2022.

Knoxville had a growth rate of 9.6%, which was 0.5% higher than the second highest city, Fort Myers, Florida.

In college towns like Knoxville, students often look for off-campus housing, resulting in an influx in people looking for places to live. This influx is now causing a shortage of available housing in the Knoxville area.

During the 2022-23 school year, UT had a historically large freshman class, resulting in many students having to search for housing and wait in lines to obtain housing leases.

Shane Maryk, who graduated from the University of Tennessee in December of 2021 with a pre-law degree and now works in logistics, had to look for over four months to find an apartment.

“While looking for places, it seemed like it took months just to find one affordable place, and places I looked at previous years in areas like the Fort, rent raised to over $1,000,” Maryk said.

Maryk also went on to explain that although he was able to find a house, the cost often forces him to live beyond his budget.

One of the reasons rent rose was the law of supply and demand. It is known that when demand is high and supply is low prices tend to increase to meet the demands for the companies and or businesses.

Brad Bates, a real estate agent located in Maryville explained potential causes behind the rent increase after COVID-19.

“It seemed like in the world of buying properties, COVID-19 had a negative impact … Once the pandemic died down there were too many buyers but too few properties,” Bates said.

Bates explained that the reason for the sudden increase in demand in Knoxville is that many students moved back to Knoxville after a period of living at home during COVID-19. He believes that this influx of students buying or renting properties led to a demand much higher than the available supply.

Wade Humphrey, a junior business major, intended to stay on-campus but was not able to obtain campus housing due to the influx of students.

Humphrey expressed his frustration with the current housing prices in Knoxville.

“It seemed like every place I looked was either full super quickly or ridiculously priced. The only reason why I found a place was because I had two close friends who I room with who were looking as well,” Humphrey said.

The average rent for all Knoxville apartments had a yearly rate increase of a minimum of $150. That translates to a 9% increase. According to the website data, January of 2022 had an average rent cost of $1,549, whereas January of 2023 had an average cost of $1,850.

Across the country, pre-pandemic houses went from a near 3% of properties being listed for sale to a near 13%. This then causes an effect which causes less rental properties being listed which then causes the law of supply and demand to come into play.

“When COVID-19 started to subside, I started looking to move closer into the Knoxville area. The place I was living in when I was looking was roughly 500 more square feet, and about $500 less than my current place and it is a full bedroom smaller,” Sandy West, a general manager for a local restaurant, said.

Many people believe evidence shows that the rent prices for Knoxville will continue to increase, but many hope the next report the National Association of Realtors release will not include Knoxville.