Salt Lake City apartments are getting smaller

Bigger apartments are back — unless you live in Salt Lake City.

The big picture: Developers nationwide are catering to people who want more space while they postpone buying a house or spend time working from home .

• The average U.S. apartment built in 2023 measured 916 square feet, a 27-square-foot rebound from the previous year, per a recent report from RentCafe , a rental listing website.

Yes, but: Salt Lake City, along with cities like San Diegoa and Arlington, Virginia, are bucking the national trend.

• All three cities are among the top 10 cities with the smallest apartments being built between 700 to 750 square feet.
• The average size of a new apartment in Salt Lake City was 795 square feet in 2023, a 2% dip in the past decade.

Flashback: Apartment sizes shrank in 2022 to the smallest on average since at least 2014, according to the report.

• The downsizing came as strong rental demand spurred developers to pack more units into buildings, researchers say.

State of play: A flood of new, typically pricey apartments have been built in recent years.

• More two- and three-bedroom rentals hit the market last year, pushing up the national average size, but one-bedroom floor plans continue to dominate, RentCafe found.