Image: H. Michael Miley
We've written a lot of Curbed Comparison posts in the last couple years and if there's anything that's become abundantly clear along the way, it's that Seattle has steadily jacke up the rent prices to the point where you have to get over $1,500/month just to find a decently-sized one-bedroom. If you're lucky. Every time we find a median rent, it almost always seems to be higher than the previous months. However, it looks like supply may have have finally caught up with demand here in Seattle and, according to Dupre + Scott Apartment Advisors, rent increases are slowing down for real this time. Rents "only" increased 3.9 percent year-over-year in September, compared to 8.4 percent last year.
If you've looked up to the sky and seen the multitude of cranes that have become constant additions to the skyline, you know that the region has been racing to build as many apartments and townhomes as it can. No surprise that developers probably went too far, as PSBJ tells us that "more than 11,000 new units are expected to open this year in the region" and another 11,000 or so are planned to open next year. There simply aren't enough people working at Amazon to fulfill that (yet).
Of course, this doesn't mean all of those luxury apartments in Denny Triangle are suddenly going to go for $900/month. Rents will still be high, especially in new buildings, but renters might finally start to see the market edge back in their direction. At least we hope so. Pretty sure no one's going to feel bad for all those real estate companies who've been asking $1,700 for a studio.
· There's finally a major American city where rent increases are slowing [Fusion]
· Bad timing: As thousands of new apartments open, Seattle's rental market weakens [PSBJ]
· Dupre + Scott Apartment Advisors [DS]
· All Curbed Comparisons coverage [CS]