NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Some good news to hear at the start of the year: rental prices are expected to drop slightly in 2024.
According to Realtor.com only a .2 percent drop is expected this year, but renting is considered a more budget-friendly option in most markets than buying right now.
The drop comes from a surge in multi-family rental options and an uptick of rental vacancy to 6.6 percent, meaning there is more supply than demand.
This is a relief after the double-digit rent growth that was seen from 2021 to 2022.
Right now, Realtor.com said the median rent in Nashville is $2,400 a month.
Meanwhile, home prices and mortgage rates are expected to drop, but so will inventory.
"People who are on the fence and trying to decide between renting and buying, we expect to see more multifamily units get through the construction process and finish and hit the market in 2024. So that's going to keep rents a little bit lower than we might otherwise expect," said Danielle Hale, Chief Economist at Realtor.com.
Down payments for a new home reached a record high median of $30,000 summer of 2023. However, as home prices drop this year, down payments are expected to drop as well.
For people of my generation, in our younger days we spent part of our weekends watching music shows like American Bandstand and Soul Train. That was before the age of music videos. Several years before Soul Train was syndicated out of Chicago, another syndicated R&B show was taped in Nashville at NewsChannel 5. Night Train aired in the 60s and included what may have been the first TV appearance for legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix. Forrest Sanders has another great look back at station history.
-Lelan Statom
