What would it be like to spend a night speed-dating and have everyone fall in love with you? Or to be a five-star basketball recruit who gets wined and dined by every blue-blood program in the country?

It might feel a little like apartment hunting in Salt Lake City.

I just found a place here — and I’ve never felt more wanted in my life.

It turns out more than half of apartments in the Salt Lake metropolitan area are currently offering concessions to renters.

Two months free? How about three?

Want a coffee maker?

Here, take this Visa gift card, too.

So what’s going on with the rental market right now? Here’s my story.

A building boom

My name is Shreyas and I’m The Salt Lake Tribune’s new Utah Jazz beat reporter.

After somehow making it to Salt Lake City from Lawrence, Kansas, in my 2008 Nissan 350Z Convertible without an issue, I arrived late on a Sunday night last month.

I planned to drag my dad along (bless him) on apartment tours before making my final choice by the end of the day Tuesday.

I wasn’t sure what to expect. The city has a lot of new apartments. That’s the big reason why so many are offering concessions to renters.

Tribune data reporter Andy Larsen pulled some interesting numbers.

Salt Lake has experienced a building boom. According to the Federal Reserve, permits were authorized for 31,179 units in two-plus-unit buildings in Salt Lake City from 2020 to 2025, compared to 20,466 units from 2015 to 2019.

Back on the hunt

My apartment hunt focused on downtown Salt Lake City and Sugar House. I decided that based on a mix of asking around, proximity to Delta Center and The Salt Lake Tribune’s newsroom, and factors like age (28) and relationship status (single).

We ended up touring eight buildings.

My first tour started at AP1 Lofts downtown. I looked at a 609-square-foot corner one-bedroom unit on the fourth floor. I’m not going to lie, I was ready to sign on the dotted line after the visit. The view of the city from the window was insane.

But that wasn’t the craziest part. The base rent was $1,549, and I quickly learned that AP1 was offering two months of free base rent and a $600 allowance to use for utilities, parking or rent.

Those concessions set the tone for the rest of my search. In fact, every single place I toured had some form of concessions. My dad, who’s been in this country since 1997, was shocked and had never seen anything like it.

What else does the data show?

Rent in the Salt Lake City metro area has significantly flattened over the last few years, after skyrocketing during the pandemic. While there are different measures of rent, here’s one look from Zillow’s Observed Rent Index among multifamily buildings in the metro area.

These observed rents, though, don’t include the concessions offered by apartment owners, which can make rent effectively cheaper. Zillow tracks that, too. In its April 2026 report, the latest month for which we have nationwide data, Salt Lake City ranked seventh out of 50 top metros in terms of the number of apartment listings with concessions:

Overall, 62.5% of apartment listings on Zillow offered some sort of concession, most often free rent for some months. That’s compared to a nationwide average of 39.8%.

How long will these concessions be there for renters? A Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute report from last year suggests that a decline in building permits in 2024 could mean “a tight rental market with falling vacancy rates and rising rents by 2027-2028.”

The tour continues

Anyway, second on our tour list was Element 31 at Brickyard Apartments. The amenities (huge pool and a great gym and a nice common room) were a draw, but I quickly ruled it out: the concession was only one free month.

Next up were the Slate Apartments, which were a little removed from the heart of downtown. I toured a mix of studio and one-bedroom apartments.

The most memorable part of the tour was the sauna, yoga wellness room and the overall aesthetic of the complex. There was a coffee shop in the same building. Slate offered a concession of two or three free months, depending on the room.

My head was spinning from the math of trying to figure out the actual price of all these places after concessions, and every single guide giving the hard sell on why their apartment place was the greatest place on earth.

One thing to remember, of course, is that these sweet deals are just for the first year. Most places I talked to wouldn’t offer anything close to residents who decided to stay another year.

On top of that, if for some reason you needed to break your lease in the first year, most places wanted you to pay the concessions back and then usually at least two months of rent.

More freebies

The next two places somehow gave me even more to think about. The first was The Gauge Apartments, with excellent amenities such as a hot tub and even a dog wash.

The Gauge offered up to three months of free base rent and a moving gift if you signed within 48 hours.

You could choose from six gifts, including a paddle board, Ninja Creami, Ninja Pressi, Ninja knives, pots and pans set, and a Bissell cordless vacuum. Between the concessions and moving gift, the apartment complex was a strong contender, as it was also the cheapest for a one-bedroom.

Then my dad called an audible and wanted to check out Camber Apartments. A couple of things about Camber: the best rent for the cheapest studio available for when I wanted to move in was around $1,800 (just a couple hundred dollars out of my budget) and it put the “luxury” in luxury apartments.

The entire complex was nuts. I imagine it’s where a Bond villain would live if they filmed in Salt Lake City. The amenities included a golf simulator, a bowling alley, a rooftop pool with a big screen showing sporting events, a huge gym, and more. The craziest part? Camber offered up to three months off base rent and a $2,000 gift card if I signed up within 24 hours.

I spoke to Tyler Branstetter, a Camber leasing agent. He’s been a leasing agent for three years.

“When I first started, there were no concessions and I think they developed a lot of communities in the last couple of years, so it’s gotten really competitive with concessions,” he said.

Branstetter said he thinks so many apartments are being built because Salt Lake is hosting the 2034 Winter Olympics. Still, he’s surprised that nearly every place is offering some sort of concessions.

“It’s insane. I think everyone is at the point where they’re like, we gotta either lower it or lower pricing; I think everyone is trying to find a way to come down,” Branstetter said.

That was the last apartment we toured on Monday. Naturally, it and the concessions left a lasting impression.

Settling on a new home

Throughout the process, I was relaying all the information to my mom back home in Atlanta, who was talking to my dad and me about the different places and, more importantly, double-checking our math.

After a lot of discussion, we realized that even with the concessions, it just wasn’t smart for me to pay that much in rent for Camber. I was a little crushed, but I also like saving money.

I decided AP1 Lofts was my top choice. I called the leasing office to negotiate and the agents offered to add another month of free rent to make it three months of free base rent and $600 to use. We did the math with utilities and parking; the one-bedroom would have been $1,585 a month.

Still, my mom thought we could do better. So, she urged my dad and me to check out a few more places downtown on Tuesday.

First thing Tuesday morning, we went to the Charles and Sixth and Main. Both places were lovely, but base rent was too high for me, and the concessions didn’t make up for it. When you live in a renter’s market, you can afford to be a little picky.

Finally, we went to one more apartment complex downtown. I had my mind made up before touring here that I was going to end up at AP1. I really needed to be blown away to change my mind.

I was. My dad and I toured four different apartments, some one-bedrooms and studios. Not only were the apartments stunning, but the pool and other amenities were great. The real seller? The top-floor studio had a stunning view of the mountains and an ideal location to see the sunset.

Not to mention, it was only a short walk from the Delta Center. I felt like I had found a home.

After a bit of negotiation, the complex offered three months of free base rent and a $2,000 gift card. I got my keys by Wednesday afternoon.

That didn’t stop nearly every other place that we checked out from calling me and asking where we were at in the process.

I delivered the bad news, and every place took it well and asked me to keep them in mind for the future. Honestly, it felt like dating, in a sense. Sometimes, it’s not them. It’s me and my parameters were constantly shifting.