Rates will continue to decline but not significantly.

Reno rent prices started to fall last year, after hitting record levels due largely to the pandemic and inflation in 2021.

"So, after the COVID surge we saw some rent decreases in 2023," said Robin Lee, Executive Director for the Nevada State Apartment Association. "We also saw a good amount of construction and a good amount of units to come on the market."

Those trends look to continue for the new year, but there won't be a huge significance.

The Nevada State Apartment Association uses Costar for their financial forecasts.

"The predictions that they are making is that the rents will continue to decrease through the beginning of 2024 and then it will start to increase again but nothing huge," Lee said. "No huge surges maybe the most is a four percent increase." 

According to Costar, the forecasted average Reno rent price for 2024 is $1,500, which is down about two percent from last year. 

The national average is about $1,600 per unit.

Lee says with the slight decreases that the housing market is starting to regulate.

One complication Lee sees with the housing market is the lack of affordable housing and all the hurdles that come with building them, including tax credits.

It's not cheaper to build them as prices for constructing homes are still high.

"I wish that were different," Lee said. "We would love to see less barriers to developing affordable housing. That's one of our number one priorities and number one topics of conversation."

Another contributing factor to rent decreases is high vacancy rates.

Right now, those are sitting at 9.6 percent.

The increase in supply is causing landlords to adjust to try and get more people in their complexes.

"When vacancy rates are high, it's a renter's market if you will, so they will be getting more concessions," Lee said. "There's more competition to bring more renters into the properties."

Costar is forecasting for about 1,200 new units in the Reno marketplace, in the first quarter of the year.

Lee says this is the biggest amount in the past few years.

They predict that will make vacancy rates increase to double digits, but they expect those to regulate as well.