Report: Knoxville average rent reaches slightly above national median

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — The average Knoxville resident is now paying over $1,400 for an apartment in the area, mirroring the national median rent according to a recent report by Apartment List.

“People can only afford a very small percentage of the rentals available in the housing market that’s available,” said VFL Real Estate’s Steven Hensley.

According to a June newsletter by East Tennessee Realtors, the average rent for an apartment in Knoxville is $1,448 a month, slightly over the national median of $1,411.

“But when you really look at our total rental market and just kind of say in Knox County in general, when you add in the single-family homes, rents probably more around to $2,000 to $2,400 a month,” said Hensley.

As an owner of his own real estate business, Hensley says this boils down to a supply and demand issue.

“But now it’s really became that big market because of supply, we had so many people move here in the last couple of years, we just weren’t building fast enough to keep up with it,” said Hensley.

According to Knoxville’s Community Development Corporation, this is a problem they have faced for a few years now.

“Typically, there’s a two- or three-year lag before you start to see new units come online. So, we’ve been playing catch up for the last five years for not building in about a 20-year period. So, we’ve still got some work to do,” said the KCDC CEO, Ben Bentley.

While they play catch up, many people must look outside of Knoxville to find apartments at a lower rate.

“All that to say there’s still a huge demand for affordability, particularly for folks making really very little money all the way up to about 80% of area median income, which I think for a family of four, is about 70,000 in Knoxville right now. To find an affordable unit particularly in certain segments of the market is very challenging,” said Bentley.

However, both KCDC and Hensley say rent prices are looking like they will not change dramatically in either direction.

“The good news is we’re starting to see a slowdown in the rent growth, which is really great, and I expect to see more,” said Bentley, “We’re seeing an influx of a lot of housing supply into the market. And over the next 2 to 3 years, that’s going to accelerate. So, we hope to see a flat lining of those rents and the rent growth sort of stabilizing and also maybe a reduction at some point in the future as additional supply hits the market.”

Although they say they have an extensive waiting list right now, KCDC has a few developments in the works to increase housing supply in the area.

They also encourage those who may be struggling with rent to visit the area’s governmental and nonprofit housing programs .

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