LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Like many major metro areas around the country, Las Vegas rental housing prices have skyrocketed over the past three years.
Rents, according to statistics from real estate firm Zillow, have actually started to level out in the Las Vegas Valley of late, but there's been little relief for squeezed valley residents looking to make ends meet.
Zillow, in its most recent market report, says the average rent in Las Vegas for a two-bedroom unit is just over $1,800 per month.
"At one point, rents in Las Vegas were rising more than 20% per year back in late 2021," says Jeff Tucker, a senior economist with Zillow. "Rents got so high, a lot of local folks, local workers in Vegas, couldn't afford asking rents anymore."
During the past year or so, Isabel Gonzalez's rent has gone from $1,300 per month to $1,700 per month.
A housekeeper at the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas resort just off the Strip, Gonzalez says it's been difficult just surviving and paying her bills.
The rising cost of living means her paycheck doesn't go nearly as far as it used to. That's part of the reason why she and other Culinary Union members voted recently to authorize a possible strike in Las Vegas.
"What we're getting right now is not enough to survive," she said.
Patria Thompson moved to Las Vegas a few months ago from South Carolina. She's taking advantage of a housing assistance program and staying in a hotel now, but she wants to get an apartment with her partner at some point.
She's just not sure how she'll be able to afford that.
"If you're single, you might be able to do it with two or three jobs," she said. "But who wants to work two or three jobs....you're burned out, you can't even enjoy your life."
There is some hope on the horizon for renters.
According to Zillow, rent prices in Las Vegas are actually down about 2% from this time last year. Las Vegas and Austin, Texas, are in fact the only major metro areas in the United States where rents are falling, even though the drop is hardly significant.
Nationwide, according to Zillow, the "typical" U.S. rent is now $2,052, which is up 3.3% from this time a year ago.
"You can get something decent at $1,300 or $1,400 per month, but if you go anything under that, you're going to be paying a slumlord," said Gerardo Ceballos, a Las Vegas resident. "You have families out here struggling, people working two or three jobs. Half the families in the city are struggling."
There won't be an easy solution to the problem. Construction of more apartment buildings can help on the supply side, but Tucker says the government will likely have to become more involved to help make it more affordable to live.
"There's no question that we need more funding, public funding dedicated for affordable housing," Tucker said. "A lot of folks were moving around after the pandemic hit, which meant there was a boom in migration for some areas. There are consequences for that, cost pressures were imported from places like San Francisco to places like Vegas and Phoenix."
