Rapid population growth in Washington and Iron counties is driving a multi-family housing construction boom in the southwest corner of Utah, according to a September 13 report from the Rental Housing Association of Utah. The surge in construction has not resulted in widespread market weakness, as the region maintains occupancy rates of 95 percent or higher.
Washington and Iron counties have participated heavily in the statewide apartment boom that has added nearly 100,000 rental units since the Great Recession. Approximately 20 percent of the rental inventory in these two counties was developed during the last seven to eight years, consisting of roughly 4,400 units in Washington County and 1,100 in Iron County.
Washington County now serves as Utah's fifth-largest rental market with nearly 22,000 renter-occupied units, while Iron County ranks seventh with more than 6,100 units. In Washington County, St. George has accounted for nearly half of the apartment units receiving building permits since 2010, totaling 2,230 units. Washington City, Hurricane, and Ivins have also contributed to the county's development.
In Iron County, nearly all recent development has occurred in Cedar City, which accounts for 97.9 percent of the county's new apartment units. Cedar City reached a record 280 permitted units in 2023 and nearly matched that level in 2025.
The high demand has contributed to rising rents. From 2019 to 2026, the average rent for a two-bedroom unit increased 71.9 percent in Washington County and 56.7 percent in Iron County. This compares to a 43.4 percent increase in Salt Lake County over the same period.
Apartment demand is expected to continue rising as housing prices remain elevated. In 2025, the median sales price of a single-family home in Utah was $564,000, while the median sales price for a condominium or townhome was $430,000. According to the Rental Housing Association report, only one in six renters could afford a single-family home priced at 80 percent of the median price, and only one in four renters could afford a condominium or townhome priced at 80 percent of the median price.
The report suggests the region's demographic and economic growth, alongside continued enrollment growth at Utah Tech University and Southern Utah University, should allow the market to absorb an annual increase of roughly 600 additional units in Washington County and 200 in Iron County.
