Although Seattle rent prices have seen four straight months of slight decreases the year-over-year trend is staggering. Compared to this same time last year, Seattle rent prices have increased by a whopping 22.9%. Although rent prices are rising across the country, Seattle’s rent growth has outpaced both the Washington state average (19.8%), as well as the national average (17.8%).
After this year of rent growth, median rents for Seattle apartments currently stand at $1,653 for a one-bedroom apartment and $2,062 for a two-bedroom. For reference, the national average median rent is $1,312.
Although renters are flocking to Seattle in bunches, the areas surrounding Emerald City are following the trend of rising prices. In fact, Bellevue has the most expensive rents in the metro, surpassing Seattle proper. On the other hand, Lakeview has the most affordable rents in the metro.
Here’s a look at the year-over-year rent increases and median rent prices across the entire Seattle metro.
The influx of remote workers could be a factor in the rising prices. The flexibility of working from home may be one reason why Seattle is seeing a large share of renters moving into the area from out of town. Renters coming from California appear to be a large source of new Seattle renters.
The top three sources of out-of-metro renters looking to make moves to Seattle are coming from San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Portland. In fact, 36.5% of apartment searches in Seattle are coming from renters who are currently living outside of the area. On the other hand, Seattle renters looking to move out of the city are targeting Spokane as their primary destination, with Portland and Los Angeles shortly behind.
This is a guest post from www.apartmentlist.com
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