KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Knoxville's rental market got close to filling up in July, according to a report from the Knoxville Area Association of Realtors. In their report, they said the occupancy rate was 98.6% in the second quarter of 2022, ranking 2 out of 66 markets in the South.
Knoxville's highest occupancy rate was also the seventh-highest out of 150 metropolitan areas across the U.S., according to the report.
The highest occupancy rate was among rentals lower than 15 years old, and more luxurious rentals saw only a 97.5% occupancy rate. Rental properties that were more than 20 years old saw a 99% occupancy rate in July.
At the end of the second quarter of 2022, KAAR also said around 1,000 new units were completed which helped expand the local supply of rental homes by 2% over the past year. Another 1,000 units were expected to be completed in the coming year, with a total of 1,617 rental units under construction as of the July report.
The price of rent was also up around 19.3% compared to the previous year, outpacing the national rent growth rate of around 14%. According to the report, rents in the Knoxville area were around $366 higher per month compared to pre-pandemic levels.
The report also found that landlords were charging renters more for the same unit after trading-out leases. The trade-out rent growth rate, which tracks how much rent changes from one lease to the next for the same unit, went up an average of 13% compared to the previous year.
As a result, KAAR said more renters were choosing to renew their leases instead of finding new places to live, so they could continue paying the rate they paid during previous years.
Around $1.1 billion also changed hands during the last year after around 29 sales transactions for apartment buildings were recorded in the Knoxville area. It was the highest total sales volume on record, more than 31% higher than the previous record set during the first quarter of 2022, according to the KAAR report.