Las Vegas rents climbed at one of fastest rates in US in recent years

Las Vegas rents climbed at one of the fastest rates in the country in recent years, a new report shows, as many locals have struggled to keep up with housing costs in Southern Nevada.

The typical rent for a one-bedroom unit in the Las Vegas area is $1,478. That’s up 57.7 percent, or $541, from five years earlier, according to personal-finance site LendingTree.

It also found that the typical rent for a two-bedroom unit in Southern Nevada is $1,735. That was up 51.8 percent, or $592, in five years.

The price hike for a one-bedroom unit in Las Vegas, as measured by the percentage growth, was seventh-fastest among the 50 metro areas tracked for the report, while prices for a two-bedroom unit jumped at the eighth-fastest rate.

Landlords have lowered their prices lately, giving Las Vegas Valley tenants some relief on their rent checks. But overall, the new report underscores the higher cost of housing — and affordability hurdles — that Southern Nevadans have faced.

For buyers, mortgage rates have largely pushed lower in recent months but are still elevated compared to the past 15 years. Home prices also remain high in Southern Nevada, making it difficult for many would-be buyers to afford a purchase.

All told, UNLV’s Lied Center for Real Estate reported in September that Las Vegas’ housing market was “largely unaffordable for much of the local population.”

Locally, buyers picked up 1,724 previously owned single-family homes in October, down 10 percent from the same month last year, according to trade association Las Vegas Realtors.

The median sales price, $474,370, slipped just 0.2 percent from a year earlier, the association reported.

Southern Nevada’s all-time high median of $485,000 was reached several times this year, the group noted.

On the rental side, landlords have lowered their prices lately.

In October, the median asking rent in the Las Vegas area was down 3.6 percent from a year earlier, according to listing site Realtor.com, which reported a few months ago that Southern Nevada rents had dropped 13.6 percent from their peak.

Still, the Kenny Guinn Center for Policy Priorities reported in early 2025 that Nevada, with the bulk of its population in the Las Vegas Valley, faced a “severe housing affordability crisis.”

The Reno-based Guinn Center found that nearly half of the state’s renters were “excessively cost-burdened” and that income growth in Nevada had “lagged far behind housing costs.”

Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342.