NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — According to one report, the south has seen some major drops in median asking rent, with Nashville seeing some of the largest annual drops.
For some renters, that's led to special incentives here in Music City. Carson Watts, originally from Clarksville, recently re-signed his lease in Germantown. He's one of many that have decided to cash in on Nashville rent deals.
"It's not cheap, especially in Germantown where I chose to live, but I think there's so much inventory across the city that the prices are actually going down a little bit,” Watts said.
Although Watts didn't see a huge dip in his rent, his complex does offer some appealing incentives, such as a free month's rent and $1,000 for referring a friend.
“A lot of times, people will just kind of pick a place and not realize that there's a lot of options out there that you can even negotiate a little bit with the leasing company,” Watts said. “So shop around. Don't go to the first one you look at.”
An October report from Realtor.com found that regionally, the south had the most year-over-year multifamily home completions. That drove median asking rents down by 5.2% in Nashville.
“Rents are down right now, and I think they're really kind of bottoming out as landlords are prioritizing apartment occupancy over raising their rents," Apartment Insiders founder and CEO Joel Sanders said. "They just want to get heads in beds."
Sanders said he’s seen deals like three and four months' free rent. Additionally, he said he'd seen giveaways — including $1,000 gift cards, which companies can expense. However, Sanders said that he doesn't expect the trend to stick around.
“I think the bottoming out will happen between now and March or so, and then rents may start to trickle up or at least flatten out and quit dropping,” Sanders added. “A lot of this new supply will be absorbed and there aren't nearly as many new builds being started.”
Sanders said the demand for apartments isn't going anywhere, with more and more people moving to the south and staying. He predicted that rents may even begin to increase in about a year.
