Average rents for three-bedroom homes in Sullivan and Washington Counties single-family were down during the third quarter this year, while average annual gross rental yield were up.

Institutional investor purchases posed a big gain in Sullivan, but delinked in Washington County which has had one of the tightest inventory of homes for sales in the Tri-Cities region.
Here’s how the two local count’s rental data looks in ATTOM Data Solution’s Q3 Single Family Rental Market Report:

SULLIVAN COUNTY

Average rent for a three-bedroom home was $914, down 3% from Q3 last year.

Annual average gross rental yield, 10.4%, up from 10.4% last year.

Institution investor purchases during the first seven months of 2016 – 2.7% of all homes sole, up 69% from last year.

Investment property vacancy rate 3.5%, up 4.6% from last year.

WASHINGTON COUNTY

Average rent for a three-bedroom home $917, down 2%.

Average annual gross rental yield 9.8%, up 9.8% last year.

Institutional investor purchases January – July, – 1.8%, down 6% from last year.

Investment property vacancy rate 3.1%, down 1% from last year.

Three-bedroom rentals in the two counties steadily increased in the 3% – 4% range until 2011. During that year Q1 rends posted a year-over-year gain 0.3% in Washington and 1% in Sullivan County. Rents went negative the next year.

But in 2012 rents in Washington County increased 26% to $953 a month. Sullivan posted a modest 6.6% increase to $853 a month.

Washington County’s high point was Q1 2015 when the average rent was $1,064. In Sullivan, it rose to $910.

This year saw Washington County Q1 rents drop almost 14% t0 $927 a month while Sullivan County rents posted a modest 0.4% gain to 914 a month.

Sullivan County investors and property managers are watching rent trends closely as several large high-end apartment complexes are coming online in both Kingsport and Bristol.

One project was expanded before it was built out due to demand.

The picture hasn’t taken shape yet, but with over 1,000 new apartments coming online there are some aggressive move-in specials in the works. What remains to be seen is what the vacancy rates will look like with the additional inventory.

The growth in both cities is from in-migration.

Categories: CORE DATA, LABOR MARKET