Seattle rents have increased 0.4% over the past month, and are up marginally by 0.5% in comparison to the same time last year, according to the latest report from Apartment List.
Currently, median rents in Seattle stand at $1,330 for a one-bedroom apartment and $1,660 for a two-bedroom.
This is the third straight month that the city has seen rent increases after a decline in December of last year. Seattle’s year-over-year rent growth lags the state average of 1.4%, as well as the national average of 1.3%.
Throughout the past year, rent increases have been occurring not just in the city of Seattle, but across the entire metro.
Of the largest 10 cities that Apartment List has data for in the Seattle metro, all of them have seen prices rise.
Here’s a look at how rents compare across some of the largest cities in the Seattle metro
- Lakewood has the least expensive rents in the Seattle metro, with a two-bedroom median of $1,460; the city has also experienced the fastest rent growth in the metro, with a year-over-year increase of 4.2%.
- Over the past month, Kent is the only city in the metro that has seen rents fall, with a decline of 0.3%. Median two-bedrooms there cost $1,810, while one-bedrooms go for $1,460.
Bellevue rent growth leads the state
Bellevue rents have increased 0.9% over the past month, and are up moderately by 2.7% in comparison to the same time last year.
Currently, median rents in Bellevue stand at $1,890 for a one-bedroom apartment and $2,360 for a two-bedroom. This is the third straight month that the city has seen rent increases after a decline in December of last year.
Bellevue’s year-over-year rent growth leads the state average of 1.4%, as well as the national average of 1.3%.
Seattle less affordable than other cities
As rents have increased marginally in Seattle, a few other large cities nationwide have also seen rents grow modestly.
Compared to most similar cities across the country, Seattle is less affordable for renters.
- Rents increased slightly in other cities across the state, with Washington as a whole logging rent growth of 1.4% over the past year. For example, rents have grown by 1.5% in Vancouver and 1.2% in Spokane.
- Seattle’s median two-bedroom rent of $1,660 is above the national average of $1,170. Nationwide, rents have grown by 1.3% over the past year compared to the 0.5% rise in Seattle.
- While Seattle’s rents rose marginally over the past year, many cities nationwide also saw increases, including Phoenix (+3.7%), Austin (+3.1%), and Denver (+2.0%).
- Renters will generally find more expensive prices in Seattle than in most other large cities. For example, Spokane has a median 2BR rent of $900, where Seattle is more than one-and-a-half times that price.
Methodology
Data from private listing sites, including our own, tends to skew towards luxury apartments, introducing sample bias. In order to address these limitations and provide the most accurate rent estimates available, we now start with reliable median rent statistics from the Census Bureau, then extrapolate forward based on our own rental listing data, using a same-unit analysis similar to Case-Shiller’s approach, which compares only units that are available across both time periods to provide an accurate picture of rent growth in cities across the country.
Apartment List
Apartment List is a growing online apartment rental marketplace on a mission to make finding a home an easy and delightful process.
