Seattle has a pronounced seasonal rental trend. This is the time of year when prices reach their lowest, so you'll find a lot of good deals compared to the summer. I just signed my lease last month and got a pretty good rate on it.
Yup, we've moved twice in the last five years, both times just before Christmas. The first one gave us two months free, the second was on the low end of market rate.
I'm never moving in the summer again. So much cheaper to wait until November.
True fortunately but in the same stroke they often will then raise your rent by a significant portion. It’s cheaper to try and milk an extra $300 out of you and potentially lose you because they at that point in time they can usually list it for even more over the winter monthly rate.
Just saying it’s a trap if someone plans to live in a spot longer they should be cognizant of the best rates with leases ending May - July.
I got great advice to always move in winter because you’ll see the apartment in the big grey and not be deceived on seasonal natural night. Everything looks beautiful and bright in the optimistic summer, but the majority of the year will be pretty grey.
Wow interesting. My apt faces southwest and gets decent winter light and also cooks in the summer. We have a window unit that manages to keep the place 5° below the outside. Without the AC, I think it can easily be 15° warmer inside.
I actually only saw my apt at night for a tour so the advice was pretty neglected lol. It was also before my first winter so I hadn’t really experienced the dark yet.
Moving sucks when it’s dark, cold and wet, so people tend to not move during this time of the year - plus holidays and layoffs. Nobody is hiring because everyone is sick and on vacation.
Except that one guy from Alaska who wears cargo shorts year round. He’s living his best life right now.
I build apartment buildings, and when we are finishing projects in the winter the property management companies expect to either offer leases at a few hundred dollars less a month or 1-3 months free on the back end of the lease.
Cause they’re cheap, and ownership doesnt feel they will get the return on the ac unless they are like South facing and have an extremely high heat gain. Of course it depends on part of town and target demographic of renters as well. And lastly, even though it’s getting warmer over time there’s still this mindset that “we live in the NW, we don’t need AC.”
Like the casement windows are cheap? I meant more the combo of no AC with casements. If you're not gonna include AC, then at least put in sliding or double hung windows so tenants can more easily put in their own. And for some reason newer buildings run crazy hot
No I meant as in the owners/developers are cheap and don’t think it’s worth the money to install split units.
On a different note, there are a few Passive Haus buildings in the city which have something sorta similar to central AC; ERVs/HRVs with refrigerant cooling loops to them so you can get a central AC type effect. There aren’t many of them though because they’re expensive to build.
Gotcha. I guess I was wondering more why casement windows are so popular vs double hung or horizontal siding windows in apartments. Hoping at least mini splits become more popular
I don’t really know tbh, other than that’s what is always drawn. It could be possibly for that very reason, as tenants “installing/uninstalling” window mounted ac units could possibly damage the window or sill, thereby increasing maintenance costs, thereby in their minds devaluing the asset, wether in be in terms of “profit”, building sale price, or appraised price as the developer or future building owner goes to refinance the building.
But that’s all a guess from tidbits I’ve heard from actual developers. So I don’t really know.
Casement windows can “scoop” air into a building, increasing airflow. Never living anywhere without them again!
I’ve noticed a lot of people have free-standing a/c fan units inside for the summer. That’s nice because you still can have the benefit of fresh air when the temps drop at night.
They "scoop" the air, but it would still be better if there were more than 1 functioning window per apartment. I feel like the benefits of that action are counteracted by there only being one.
If they had 2 windows, or perhaps a casement window opening out and one opening down, airflow could pass through far better.
I just miss having more than one window :(
Yep! I work at Zillow (but these are my own views yada yada) and this is basically it. December is a slow time for real-estate both for buying/selling as well as renting due to holidays (fewer people want to shop during cold rainy season as well as while everyone is celebrating with family). Spring tends to be the busiest time of the year. Prices go down in generally during the slow times.
Some supporting articles from individuals smarter than I:
Rent is *up* relative to this time last year, [https://www.zillow.com/research/november-2023-rent-report-33470/](https://www.zillow.com/research/november-2023-rent-report-33470/)
**however**, it is *down* relative to previous months (seasonal effect)
[https://www.zillow.com/research/november-2023-market-report-33488/](https://www.zillow.com/research/november-2023-market-report-33488/)
My own read: now is probably a pretty good time to sign a 12-month contract if you're looking to rent, also less competition so maybe some room to negotiate a lease. Otherwise, you could wait a bit for Fed rate cut to potentially drive overall prices down (speculative)
Rents having been [falling in the least affordable metros](https://www.fox13seattle.com/news/rent-prices-biggest-decline-more-than-3-years-redfin-report) in the latter half of the year. I read in a newsletter (can’t find it now for some reason) that Seattle was leading the retreat in prices nationwide, and that this pull back was the signal that indicates that spiraling inflation may be “under control” now.
Hopefully this is true and interest rates can retreat a little [*fingers crossed*]
And if you account for transit costs, with an actual accounting of how incredibly expensive cars are, it performs even better than most of its competition.
The ability to live car-free or car-lite is extremely valuable and it’s something most other places don’t have.
On top of that, controversially, no state income tax means typical earners are really riding the gravy train.
Fairly car free, fairly tax free, fairly high income, fairly moderate rents. We’re doing well here. Nowhere else compares.
The ratio of incomes to rent is more favorable than anywhere else in the country.
We’re the second highest income city in the USA.
We aren’t in the top 10 highest rent cities in the US.
I’ve tried to tell people this, but the problem is that being one of the most affordable cities means it does attract a lot of people from the interior who come here for vibes and realize being affordable doesn’t mean cheap.
Yea because we have tens of thousands of people making 6 figures in tech. This is not true for the average person at all. I live in a less than 200 sq ft apt and my rent is about 40% of my take home at 60k.
Sorry but that is the average person. Median household income is second highest in the country and is into 6 figures. Low income people struggle everywhere, but low income is by definition not average.
Didn’t read that far into it sorry. You’re completely correct. Point still stands.
If you were in Miami you’d be making way less and paying way more.
If you were coupled, you’d have a $120k household income.
There are many better cheaper cities to live in. Like I said the numbers are skewed because of tens of thousands of people working in tech here. If you took out the tech workers and just used the average people in Seattle it is not affordable at all. Just to put this into perspective my co worker makes slightly under the median salary here he makes like 49k which is pretty normal. If I had his salary about half of my take home pay would go to my below 200 sq ft apt. Then I would have maybe 1400 for my car, food, insurance, drinks, memberships, any fun activities at all.
If you removed the median person then you’re not having the same conversation anymore
Also not sure why you’re in 200sqft at your income. With a roommate you could afford $3.3k/mo which will get you a nice 2br 1000sqft+ almost anywhere in town.
The "Carrie Bradshaw index"
Seattle is the highest income city where median actual wages are higher than median "affordable" rent wages. Basically the median actual wage is $4390 more per year than the median wage needed to afford a studio apartment. Whereas, in New York for example, it is $82,610 (!!) less, which is insane.
https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2023/08/04/our-carrie-bradshaw-index-where-americans-can-afford-to-live-solo
While I believe the numbers, I'm a little skeptical of drawing any useful conclusions from that stat. You can juice those numbers by just kicking out all the poor people (e.g. by not having any housing they can afford), which artificially inflates your median income.
Forcing all the service workers to commute in from distant suburbs is not the same as actually having affordable housing.
It's the median of everyone who still lives in Seattle though. There are plenty of poorer people who had to leave because they couldn't afford rising rents, and their departure makes the median income go up. Their departure doesn't reflect an actual increase in affordability though, it's a statistical illusion.
The same goes for poorer people who wanted to move here but couldn't afford to do so. The high rent kept them out, which kept our median income higher, but again that's not a sign of affordability.
Two things to watch out for are low prices to either lure you in because it's a scam or because it's a corporate landlord that will jack up your rates when you renew your lease.
Just a heads up. If the lease is longer than a year it needs to also be notarized or it’s not fully valid . It used to be if it was longer than 2 it has to be recorded with county as well . But this may have changed in the last 12 years. But I do know it does still need notarized. Used to work at a law firm that did foreclosures and evictions and it was a common convo with people avoiding the process and drafting up fake leases to push off the process.
[did](https://www.google.com/search?q=washington+2+year+leases+recorded&rlz=1CDGOYI_enUS774US774&oq=washington+2+year+leases+recorded&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigAdIBCDg4MDRqMGo3qAIAsAIA&hl=en-US&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8) a general google search but multiple rcw codes come up for the 2 year part on top of a few other sources so looks like both are still in effect.
Found on a law firms website on the google search I posted but it references the rcw code in a more understanding manner for the public.
“ under Washington State law, any residential or commercial lease exceeding two years is considered a transfer of an interest in real property. To be valid, these leases exceeding two years must be recorded in the office of the county recorder for the county where the property is located. This is covered in Washington State Law under RCW 65.08.060”
“To be valid for the entire period of the lease, if a lease is for a term of more than one year, it must be notarized. If the lease is over a year and not notarized, it will be legally recognized as month-to-month. This doesn’t make the lease void, it simply questions the validity of the lease term. This is covered in Washington State Law under RCW 59.18.210, RCW 59.18.010”
Yep, ever since May year-over-year prices have been down, so it's not just the seasonal effect. I've been looking casually for a couple months and many, many listings have price drops.
https://www.zillow.com/rental-manager/market-trends/seattle-wa/
Rent prices have generally stagnated, not dropped. Follow up on those apartments and find out if they're MFTE, or MultiFamily Tax Exempt apartments. It's a form of affordable housing specific to Seattle - they are income restricted, and list at that price because they do not rent at market rate for applicants who don't qualify, they are specifically reserved for affordable housing.
Well this month everything I look at has dropped. I work in the low income properties regularly as well. I feel there's better deals on the regular apartments lately. The low income properties seem to run off the rent to income ratio being lower. The rents though? Not really worth the money they ask. I often see better units for similar pricing in the open market. And less roaches.
When we moved to Seattle this summer, we found what we thought was a great deal on an apartment, $1675 for a large 1-bedroom near Seattle U.
It turned out to be riddled with mold/mildew, which the property manager concealed by showing up early to open all the windows before showing us the apartment and again before lease signing to hide the smell. As soon as we closed the windows, we could smell it within a few hours.
I'm highly allergic to mold and woke up very sick after the first night spent there. I was then sick with a sinus infection for three months and two rounds of different antibiotics. We kept submitting maintenance tickets for the mold/mildew odor and they kept sending someone to just paint and caulk over it, but the smell would come back and the mold grew back through the paint and caulk in less than a month.
They finally brought in a mold inspector who took air samples and after they got the report the property manager said that while their was mold, it was under the limit of what they legally had to fix (probably because the inspector came a few days after we'd hired professional cleaners to clean the place top to bottom with hydrogen peroxide, but the smell still came back within a week). They said they weren't going to do anything else about the mold and that they were just going to let us out of our lease.
So we ended up incurring an extra $2,000 in moving expenses and had to move into a much more expensive but newer and mold-free apartment. But at least I can breathe now. Although I still have some lingering symptoms after being sick for three months straight.
TLDR the cheap apartments you are seeing are likely in older buildings that have mold. Mold laws are very weak in Washington to the point where the landlord doesn't have to fix it even if it's making you sick.
Landlords of cheap apartments, yes.
We decided on our second attempt to rent something that really stretches our budget (over 50% of our income now goes to rent), and it's a totally different experience.
While the new apartment has not been problem-free, it's a huge improvement, and management is clearly making an effort to fix all problems promptly. Like after a couple of maintenance calls for the washer/dryer, they simply replaced it with a brand new and significantly better unit. Whereas in our cheap (m)old apartment, it could take weeks to get a minor thing fixed.
We're both physically disabled with chronic illnesses that have reached the point where we just can't deal with the problems typical for cheap apartments. We need a mold-free environment where everything works.
Next time go to a doctor first. My last place exploded in mold and I had a bad rash and hot a letter saying I was allergic. I was out of my lease and in a new, clean home a few days later. I got lucky it was during covid and got a killer deal on my place. I pay 1400 with wsg and a parking spot. Raised 50.00 in 3 years. Good area too and remodeled.
Yeah they offered to let us out of the lease as soon as they got the mold inspector report, and we were able to move out by the end of that month and get our full deposit back.
But the whole process of getting to that point took 3 months of us submitting maintenance tickets, them sending someone to paint and caulk over it, the smell coming back, us submitting more maintenance tickets, them painting and caulking over it again, it growing back through the caulk, them finally scheduling a mold inspection, the mold inspector taking weeks to issue their report, etc.
To be fair, our (m)old apartment's property manager got sick with Covid in the middle of all that so maybe the process doesn't usually take that long and he did apologize profusely for dropping the ball. Like there was a period in which our AppFolio maintenance tickets were apparently just disappearing into the void until we called him and found out he was super sick.
What really sucks is that Washington law apparently doesn't provide any remedy beyond being allowed allowed break the lease without consequence. We're both physically disabled, so every time we move we typically have to spend $1,000 to $2,000 because we are physically unable to do all the packing, moving, unpacking, cleaning, etc. ourselves. And being sick for 3 months straight definitely impacted my job search and our schoolwork.
Sorry to hear that. I was stuck with horrible neighbors so the house molding over was a blessing in disguise. I had to throw away my furniture and start over.
They should cover the moving costs as well.
>They should cover the moving costs as well.
I did some research to find out if we had any remedy for those and while we would have been reimbursed for at least some of them in many other states, we don't have any right to that in Washington because Washington has relatively weak mold laws. :(
You can find mold in even newer and more expensive apartments.
This summer me and my parents have moved to the Seattle area into two different apartments. I found an older and cheaper 500sqft apartment in Seattle for 1500, and they have found more expensive and newer 600sqft apartments in Lynnwood for 1800. 1bd both.
My apartment ended up an absolutely nice place to live so far. And they have found mold in theirs.
It is a lottery.
My neighbor in my building (we live in lower QA) told me she got her lease renewal and her rent didn’t increase! She said it’s because it’s currently the “renters market”.
I should be getting my renewal in March so I’m hoping for the same lol but they usually increase by 10% :/
What the heck, I'm also in LQA and my newest lease renewal, starting in May, increased rent for the 3rd time in 3 leases (about a $450 increase total iirc). It's hard to tell whether I'm getting screwed or not on the increases because I think I'm still under the average rent (new base rent quoted at $1450) but still, the increase hurts in this supposed "renters market"
If you are getting year renewals, $450 total seems to be averageish increase per year over 3 years. About $150 increase a month per year per lease renewal.
It also depends if you live in a super nice building, we live in a hundred year old building and both of our units aren’t remodeled. And from what i know, rent increases are based on what other units similar to yours in the general area are also going for. I think when i first signed my lease in 2021, my rent was around $1020 (not including my utilities). When my lease got renewed in august 2022, it increased to $1120, and with the newest renewal for august 2023, my rent is now $1275. So total $255ish over 2 renewals. I’m assuming my next one will be another $100-$150. I’m fine with paying a reasonable increase, but some people are getting absolutely fucked. I’m happy for my neighbor though! She just moved in a few months ago so I’m happy she got a good deal aka no increase.
I know someone awhile ago on nextdoor posted that their lease in Belltown increased by like $2k a month when they got their renewal 🥴
Edit: forgot to add i live in a 500 square foot studio.
Yea! I just signed a lease on a large 1-bed in Cap Hill. New kitchen, remodeled bathroom and everything for about $1500. I'm stoked for move in! It's winter time and no one wants to move, I'm pretty sure Seattle has a law against evictions in winter months as well so that might play into it too
This is one I like https://www.zillow.com/apartments/seattle-wa/clairemont-apartments/5jF2yM/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare
Here’s a 2 bed I like https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2460-NE-Northgate-Way-APT-10-Seattle-WA-98125/2088836789_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare
Edit: Another: https://www.zillow.com/b/lc125th-seattle-wa-9VXQwD/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare
Edit: Another: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3018-NE-137th-St-APT-2-Seattle-WA-98125/2055450616_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare
Edit: Another: Edit: Someone snatched this one fast https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/304-Bell-St-3A-Seattle-WA-98121/2054005286_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare
Yes, rents have gone down a bit (lot of supply coming online)... Also people tend to complain about how expensive rents are here while ignoring how high incomes are.
Higher end compared to other cities and the US overall ($115K HHI in Seattle vs $75K in US, and $78K per capita income in Seattle vs $41K in US).
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/INC110222#INC110222
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/seattlecitywashington/INC110222
This is a good question. No one can really answer it though. My neighbor in my apartment building said it’s currently the “renters market” as of now. So it might stick, or might not.
Yes, due to multiple factors.
One is seasonality. Rent growth is typically charted year over year in industry for this reason. Most markets exhibit seasonality and Seattle is no different. In this case, looking to rent in the winter is generally going to get you better prices than in the summer.
Second is supply. Seattle is among the national leaders in apartment supply deliveries this year . Housing follows the laws of supply and demand like any other marketplace. This is most pronounced in the urban core where the supply dump is concentrated and you see newly delivered Class A properties as well as their established competition offering significant concessions/specials to attract tenants. There is a ripple out across the city/area though.
Third, net migration trends to the city/region are not as pronounced. Seattle actually lost population between 2020 and 2021. It has since surpassed the 2020 census as the pandemic has subsided and people have returned to the city, but it’s established as a high cost market now and it’s unclear if the growth trends observed in the first 20 years of this century will return.
I think they are back to sanity levels again. I out of curiosity checked prices and saw some decent one bedrooms for $1200-1300 on Capitol Hill. Seemed a lot less ridiculous than it had been.
I'm sorry, $1,600 for a 2B? Ive been looking for an apartment for myself and I can't find anything half decent below $2,300. Yes winter is significantly cheeper, but it still is super competitive 🥲
usually people don't move during holidays.
Apartment managers tend to have incentives (i've heard some have bonuses) to fill occupancy rates
Hence some killer deals are available during these off seasons
I’m from Chicago and currently live there and I’m used to seeing rent priced at this price range but was not expecting to see it in Seattle. I thought you couldn’t find anything under $2000 in Seattle so color me shocked 😳
They seem to at least have stabilized. I moved units within my complex this year and got a much bigger, nicer place for only slightly more than what I was paying. Still overpriced, sure, it it feels a lot closer to “reasonable” now.
Yes, we’ve had an enormous amount of new apartments built in the last few years and many are coming online this year and next. That’s pushing rents down for nearly every class of apartments, but will likely fade in coming years as new apartment starts this year are at record lows from increased interest rates.
Hmm, who would have thought increasing supply with waning demand (people escaping to the suburbs due to crime) lowers prices. Looking at you rent control jokers.
Yes it has dropped according to recent publishings. It’s a good sign or a bad sign depending on your other economic rabbit holes. It is either indicative of a future collapse in the housing market and economy or it is just leveling out of over blown rent trajectories. It won’t go down if it is the second it just won’t rise as fast so it will level out slowly.
I am pretty sure no matter where you live this is the best time to sign a lease. Most management companies I've interacted with who did leases outside of just 12 months wouldn't even let me end a lease in Nov-Jan, sometimes offering 10 and 14 month leases instead. At some places I've talked to they gave variable rates based on when the lease would end with anything on the chart near end of year just being egregiously more expensive presumably because finding a new tenant in these months is difficult.
It’s a combo of seasonal rates and rent prices slightly going down. Still seeing landlords price crazy asks during summer and the past few years, honestly they’d probably get it. After this last summer, those places had to adjust price down because supply was up and demand down and a lot of units were sitting empty. Combine with inflation, cost of living going up, landlords have to come down to reality now and realize there’s a cap on rent. You now also see a lot of get first month free.
Watch out for Ala carte fees. Rent might be just $1600 but mandatory electric to landlord, mandatory water, mandatory trash. A ton of things that are standard inside your monthly rent fee here are mandatory additional fees. I’ve seen those fees total anywhere from $50 a month to $600 a month for someone with two cats and a car.
Seattle has a pronounced seasonal rental trend. This is the time of year when prices reach their lowest, so you'll find a lot of good deals compared to the summer. I just signed my lease last month and got a pretty good rate on it.
Yup, we've moved twice in the last five years, both times just before Christmas. The first one gave us two months free, the second was on the low end of market rate. I'm never moving in the summer again. So much cheaper to wait until November.
The corporate run ones will give the best rates for leases ending back in summer season so they can maximize future earnings.
Which is neat because the landlord can’t unilaterally end the tenancy at the end of the lease.
True fortunately but in the same stroke they often will then raise your rent by a significant portion. It’s cheaper to try and milk an extra $300 out of you and potentially lose you because they at that point in time they can usually list it for even more over the winter monthly rate. Just saying it’s a trap if someone plans to live in a spot longer they should be cognizant of the best rates with leases ending May - July.
My experience is fall/winter the luxury apartments are & their lowest. No one wants to move in the cold and rain.
I got great advice to always move in winter because you’ll see the apartment in the big grey and not be deceived on seasonal natural night. Everything looks beautiful and bright in the optimistic summer, but the majority of the year will be pretty grey.
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Wow interesting. My apt faces southwest and gets decent winter light and also cooks in the summer. We have a window unit that manages to keep the place 5° below the outside. Without the AC, I think it can easily be 15° warmer inside. I actually only saw my apt at night for a tour so the advice was pretty neglected lol. It was also before my first winter so I hadn’t really experienced the dark yet.
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Unfair.
I moved in august but signed a 12month lease in nov. Airbnb for a month weren’t that bad
Moving sucks when it’s dark, cold and wet, so people tend to not move during this time of the year - plus holidays and layoffs. Nobody is hiring because everyone is sick and on vacation. Except that one guy from Alaska who wears cargo shorts year round. He’s living his best life right now.
I build apartment buildings, and when we are finishing projects in the winter the property management companies expect to either offer leases at a few hundred dollars less a month or 1-3 months free on the back end of the lease.
If you're in the business can you tell us why they keep building warm, insulated apartments with casement windows and no air conditioning? lol
Cause they’re cheap, and ownership doesnt feel they will get the return on the ac unless they are like South facing and have an extremely high heat gain. Of course it depends on part of town and target demographic of renters as well. And lastly, even though it’s getting warmer over time there’s still this mindset that “we live in the NW, we don’t need AC.”
Like the casement windows are cheap? I meant more the combo of no AC with casements. If you're not gonna include AC, then at least put in sliding or double hung windows so tenants can more easily put in their own. And for some reason newer buildings run crazy hot
No I meant as in the owners/developers are cheap and don’t think it’s worth the money to install split units. On a different note, there are a few Passive Haus buildings in the city which have something sorta similar to central AC; ERVs/HRVs with refrigerant cooling loops to them so you can get a central AC type effect. There aren’t many of them though because they’re expensive to build.
Gotcha. I guess I was wondering more why casement windows are so popular vs double hung or horizontal siding windows in apartments. Hoping at least mini splits become more popular
I don’t really know tbh, other than that’s what is always drawn. It could be possibly for that very reason, as tenants “installing/uninstalling” window mounted ac units could possibly damage the window or sill, thereby increasing maintenance costs, thereby in their minds devaluing the asset, wether in be in terms of “profit”, building sale price, or appraised price as the developer or future building owner goes to refinance the building. But that’s all a guess from tidbits I’ve heard from actual developers. So I don’t really know.
Casement windows can “scoop” air into a building, increasing airflow. Never living anywhere without them again! I’ve noticed a lot of people have free-standing a/c fan units inside for the summer. That’s nice because you still can have the benefit of fresh air when the temps drop at night.
They "scoop" the air, but it would still be better if there were more than 1 functioning window per apartment. I feel like the benefits of that action are counteracted by there only being one. If they had 2 windows, or perhaps a casement window opening out and one opening down, airflow could pass through far better. I just miss having more than one window :(
Absolutely!
Yep! I work at Zillow (but these are my own views yada yada) and this is basically it. December is a slow time for real-estate both for buying/selling as well as renting due to holidays (fewer people want to shop during cold rainy season as well as while everyone is celebrating with family). Spring tends to be the busiest time of the year. Prices go down in generally during the slow times. Some supporting articles from individuals smarter than I: Rent is *up* relative to this time last year, [https://www.zillow.com/research/november-2023-rent-report-33470/](https://www.zillow.com/research/november-2023-rent-report-33470/) **however**, it is *down* relative to previous months (seasonal effect) [https://www.zillow.com/research/november-2023-market-report-33488/](https://www.zillow.com/research/november-2023-market-report-33488/) My own read: now is probably a pretty good time to sign a 12-month contract if you're looking to rent, also less competition so maybe some room to negotiate a lease. Otherwise, you could wait a bit for Fed rate cut to potentially drive overall prices down (speculative)
Is December or January usually cheaper? I have the option of either. Lmk your thoughts. Thanks!
Tech interns flood in for the bait and switch perfect summer too.
Does your lease renew in November or did your landlord have you renew in June?
November. I was wise to the places advertising 6-month leases.
One will also see incentives for signing leases that dont end this time of year too. Itll be like $50-100 a month less for 9 or 15 month leases.
Yup, I’m moving next week, the place was renting for $300 more in the summer during high demand time.
Is the winter the cheapest rates? I moved twice in November getting the lowest market rate.
Early winter is, yes. But November is near the bottom, so really between November and February is the time to get the best rates.
When I moved to the area a little over 2 years ago, my rent was going for almost $1000/mo what it was during the summer for the apartment
Rents having been [falling in the least affordable metros](https://www.fox13seattle.com/news/rent-prices-biggest-decline-more-than-3-years-redfin-report) in the latter half of the year. I read in a newsletter (can’t find it now for some reason) that Seattle was leading the retreat in prices nationwide, and that this pull back was the signal that indicates that spiraling inflation may be “under control” now. Hopefully this is true and interest rates can retreat a little [*fingers crossed*]
Seattle is the most affordable city to rent in the country for the typical renting, working resident.
And if you account for transit costs, with an actual accounting of how incredibly expensive cars are, it performs even better than most of its competition.
The ability to live car-free or car-lite is extremely valuable and it’s something most other places don’t have. On top of that, controversially, no state income tax means typical earners are really riding the gravy train. Fairly car free, fairly tax free, fairly high income, fairly moderate rents. We’re doing well here. Nowhere else compares.
Seattle is far from perfect and has a lot of growing pains to keep sorting out, but it's managing a hell of a lot better than anywhere else in the US.
What does this even mean?
The ratio of incomes to rent is more favorable than anywhere else in the country. We’re the second highest income city in the USA. We aren’t in the top 10 highest rent cities in the US.
I’ve tried to tell people this, but the problem is that being one of the most affordable cities means it does attract a lot of people from the interior who come here for vibes and realize being affordable doesn’t mean cheap.
Yea because we have tens of thousands of people making 6 figures in tech. This is not true for the average person at all. I live in a less than 200 sq ft apt and my rent is about 40% of my take home at 60k.
Sorry but that is the average person. Median household income is second highest in the country and is into 6 figures. Low income people struggle everywhere, but low income is by definition not average.
60k is not low income
Didn’t read that far into it sorry. You’re completely correct. Point still stands. If you were in Miami you’d be making way less and paying way more. If you were coupled, you’d have a $120k household income.
There are many better cheaper cities to live in. Like I said the numbers are skewed because of tens of thousands of people working in tech here. If you took out the tech workers and just used the average people in Seattle it is not affordable at all. Just to put this into perspective my co worker makes slightly under the median salary here he makes like 49k which is pretty normal. If I had his salary about half of my take home pay would go to my below 200 sq ft apt. Then I would have maybe 1400 for my car, food, insurance, drinks, memberships, any fun activities at all.
If you removed the median person then you’re not having the same conversation anymore Also not sure why you’re in 200sqft at your income. With a roommate you could afford $3.3k/mo which will get you a nice 2br 1000sqft+ almost anywhere in town.
Helps that no one under 50k can afford to live IN seattle.
Yeah but $50k is almost the defacto minimum wage at this point. Dick’s burgers pays that.
The "Carrie Bradshaw index" Seattle is the highest income city where median actual wages are higher than median "affordable" rent wages. Basically the median actual wage is $4390 more per year than the median wage needed to afford a studio apartment. Whereas, in New York for example, it is $82,610 (!!) less, which is insane. https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2023/08/04/our-carrie-bradshaw-index-where-americans-can-afford-to-live-solo
What’s the source for the 2nd highest median household income? I don’t think I’ve seen this said before.
While I believe the numbers, I'm a little skeptical of drawing any useful conclusions from that stat. You can juice those numbers by just kicking out all the poor people (e.g. by not having any housing they can afford), which artificially inflates your median income. Forcing all the service workers to commute in from distant suburbs is not the same as actually having affordable housing.
The medians are the medians I don’t know what to tell you. There’s nothing juiced.
It's the median of everyone who still lives in Seattle though. There are plenty of poorer people who had to leave because they couldn't afford rising rents, and their departure makes the median income go up. Their departure doesn't reflect an actual increase in affordability though, it's a statistical illusion. The same goes for poorer people who wanted to move here but couldn't afford to do so. The high rent kept them out, which kept our median income higher, but again that's not a sign of affordability.
You just dunked on me. You’re correct!
Check out the White House economic report that came out. They do plan to ease on interest rates
Tacoma is getting more expensive and getting closer to Seattle. Rent is 1350 for a low ball 1bd
Just did a rent survey in Columbia City, everyone was down significantly. Lots of 1800 and 1700 units
Yes even $1600 units 1 b and bth. I’m shocked
They will shock you again when you have to renew but not in a good way. I’ve been there…
Any idea where I can find apartments in Columbia City renting at these prices? I’ve been looking at Zillow but there’s not much listed.
https://www.greenhouse-apts.com/ Some under 1500 currently
Green leaf has 3 at 1532 to 1819
Check their websites directly for each building
Thank you!
Two things to watch out for are low prices to either lure you in because it's a scam or because it's a corporate landlord that will jack up your rates when you renew your lease.
100%. They might also limit you to 6 or 18 month leases, which means you’re stuck with a summer lease renewal.
Just a heads up. If the lease is longer than a year it needs to also be notarized or it’s not fully valid . It used to be if it was longer than 2 it has to be recorded with county as well . But this may have changed in the last 12 years. But I do know it does still need notarized. Used to work at a law firm that did foreclosures and evictions and it was a common convo with people avoiding the process and drafting up fake leases to push off the process.
I'd like to see a source on this
[RCW 59.18.210](https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=59.18.210)
[did](https://www.google.com/search?q=washington+2+year+leases+recorded&rlz=1CDGOYI_enUS774US774&oq=washington+2+year+leases+recorded&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigAdIBCDg4MDRqMGo3qAIAsAIA&hl=en-US&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8) a general google search but multiple rcw codes come up for the 2 year part on top of a few other sources so looks like both are still in effect.
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Found on a law firms website on the google search I posted but it references the rcw code in a more understanding manner for the public. “ under Washington State law, any residential or commercial lease exceeding two years is considered a transfer of an interest in real property. To be valid, these leases exceeding two years must be recorded in the office of the county recorder for the county where the property is located. This is covered in Washington State Law under RCW 65.08.060” “To be valid for the entire period of the lease, if a lease is for a term of more than one year, it must be notarized. If the lease is over a year and not notarized, it will be legally recognized as month-to-month. This doesn’t make the lease void, it simply questions the validity of the lease term. This is covered in Washington State Law under RCW 59.18.210, RCW 59.18.010”
Right it won’t be actually the price but they give you discounts for the first year. But won’t for next so they can avoid the % increase laws
It's dropped quite a bit. A floor plan in my apartment usually goes for $2000/month is now $1580/month.
That is excellent info. I wonder if it’s similar in other cities.
Yep, ever since May year-over-year prices have been down, so it's not just the seasonal effect. I've been looking casually for a couple months and many, many listings have price drops. https://www.zillow.com/rental-manager/market-trends/seattle-wa/
Probably because all the remote workers are moving north. *Cries in my $2500/mo single bedroom Bellingham apartment*
Girl time to pack it up and move you can find cheaper
Rent prices have generally stagnated, not dropped. Follow up on those apartments and find out if they're MFTE, or MultiFamily Tax Exempt apartments. It's a form of affordable housing specific to Seattle - they are income restricted, and list at that price because they do not rent at market rate for applicants who don't qualify, they are specifically reserved for affordable housing.
Well this month everything I look at has dropped. I work in the low income properties regularly as well. I feel there's better deals on the regular apartments lately. The low income properties seem to run off the rent to income ratio being lower. The rents though? Not really worth the money they ask. I often see better units for similar pricing in the open market. And less roaches.
HA. The apartment complexes I was looking at just had a price hike.
When we moved to Seattle this summer, we found what we thought was a great deal on an apartment, $1675 for a large 1-bedroom near Seattle U. It turned out to be riddled with mold/mildew, which the property manager concealed by showing up early to open all the windows before showing us the apartment and again before lease signing to hide the smell. As soon as we closed the windows, we could smell it within a few hours. I'm highly allergic to mold and woke up very sick after the first night spent there. I was then sick with a sinus infection for three months and two rounds of different antibiotics. We kept submitting maintenance tickets for the mold/mildew odor and they kept sending someone to just paint and caulk over it, but the smell would come back and the mold grew back through the paint and caulk in less than a month. They finally brought in a mold inspector who took air samples and after they got the report the property manager said that while their was mold, it was under the limit of what they legally had to fix (probably because the inspector came a few days after we'd hired professional cleaners to clean the place top to bottom with hydrogen peroxide, but the smell still came back within a week). They said they weren't going to do anything else about the mold and that they were just going to let us out of our lease. So we ended up incurring an extra $2,000 in moving expenses and had to move into a much more expensive but newer and mold-free apartment. But at least I can breathe now. Although I still have some lingering symptoms after being sick for three months straight. TLDR the cheap apartments you are seeing are likely in older buildings that have mold. Mold laws are very weak in Washington to the point where the landlord doesn't have to fix it even if it's making you sick.
I just assume every landlord is gonna try and pull this shit and I'm usually correct.
Landlords of cheap apartments, yes. We decided on our second attempt to rent something that really stretches our budget (over 50% of our income now goes to rent), and it's a totally different experience. While the new apartment has not been problem-free, it's a huge improvement, and management is clearly making an effort to fix all problems promptly. Like after a couple of maintenance calls for the washer/dryer, they simply replaced it with a brand new and significantly better unit. Whereas in our cheap (m)old apartment, it could take weeks to get a minor thing fixed. We're both physically disabled with chronic illnesses that have reached the point where we just can't deal with the problems typical for cheap apartments. We need a mold-free environment where everything works.
Next time go to a doctor first. My last place exploded in mold and I had a bad rash and hot a letter saying I was allergic. I was out of my lease and in a new, clean home a few days later. I got lucky it was during covid and got a killer deal on my place. I pay 1400 with wsg and a parking spot. Raised 50.00 in 3 years. Good area too and remodeled.
Yeah they offered to let us out of the lease as soon as they got the mold inspector report, and we were able to move out by the end of that month and get our full deposit back. But the whole process of getting to that point took 3 months of us submitting maintenance tickets, them sending someone to paint and caulk over it, the smell coming back, us submitting more maintenance tickets, them painting and caulking over it again, it growing back through the caulk, them finally scheduling a mold inspection, the mold inspector taking weeks to issue their report, etc. To be fair, our (m)old apartment's property manager got sick with Covid in the middle of all that so maybe the process doesn't usually take that long and he did apologize profusely for dropping the ball. Like there was a period in which our AppFolio maintenance tickets were apparently just disappearing into the void until we called him and found out he was super sick. What really sucks is that Washington law apparently doesn't provide any remedy beyond being allowed allowed break the lease without consequence. We're both physically disabled, so every time we move we typically have to spend $1,000 to $2,000 because we are physically unable to do all the packing, moving, unpacking, cleaning, etc. ourselves. And being sick for 3 months straight definitely impacted my job search and our schoolwork.
Sorry to hear that. I was stuck with horrible neighbors so the house molding over was a blessing in disguise. I had to throw away my furniture and start over. They should cover the moving costs as well.
>They should cover the moving costs as well. I did some research to find out if we had any remedy for those and while we would have been reimbursed for at least some of them in many other states, we don't have any right to that in Washington because Washington has relatively weak mold laws. :(
Crazy since mold is a huge issue in Washington.
And hence landlords here have a strong financial incentive to lobby against stronger mold laws
You can find mold in even newer and more expensive apartments. This summer me and my parents have moved to the Seattle area into two different apartments. I found an older and cheaper 500sqft apartment in Seattle for 1500, and they have found more expensive and newer 600sqft apartments in Lynnwood for 1800. 1bd both. My apartment ended up an absolutely nice place to live so far. And they have found mold in theirs. It is a lottery.
Just move back then. No one wants you guys in Seattle, and I hope your lack of friends here shows you that
i don't even know who you are, much less why you apparently hate me?
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They totally could based on the latest markets
My neighbor in my building (we live in lower QA) told me she got her lease renewal and her rent didn’t increase! She said it’s because it’s currently the “renters market”. I should be getting my renewal in March so I’m hoping for the same lol but they usually increase by 10% :/
What the heck, I'm also in LQA and my newest lease renewal, starting in May, increased rent for the 3rd time in 3 leases (about a $450 increase total iirc). It's hard to tell whether I'm getting screwed or not on the increases because I think I'm still under the average rent (new base rent quoted at $1450) but still, the increase hurts in this supposed "renters market"
If you are getting year renewals, $450 total seems to be averageish increase per year over 3 years. About $150 increase a month per year per lease renewal. It also depends if you live in a super nice building, we live in a hundred year old building and both of our units aren’t remodeled. And from what i know, rent increases are based on what other units similar to yours in the general area are also going for. I think when i first signed my lease in 2021, my rent was around $1020 (not including my utilities). When my lease got renewed in august 2022, it increased to $1120, and with the newest renewal for august 2023, my rent is now $1275. So total $255ish over 2 renewals. I’m assuming my next one will be another $100-$150. I’m fine with paying a reasonable increase, but some people are getting absolutely fucked. I’m happy for my neighbor though! She just moved in a few months ago so I’m happy she got a good deal aka no increase. I know someone awhile ago on nextdoor posted that their lease in Belltown increased by like $2k a month when they got their renewal 🥴 Edit: forgot to add i live in a 500 square foot studio.
Yea! I just signed a lease on a large 1-bed in Cap Hill. New kitchen, remodeled bathroom and everything for about $1500. I'm stoked for move in! It's winter time and no one wants to move, I'm pretty sure Seattle has a law against evictions in winter months as well so that might play into it too
I just signed a lease for a $1700 studio in Ballard after shopping for a month+. Where the hell are you finding 2B1B for <$1600!?
I’m in Ballard, $1700 is good for a studio in this neighborhood, no way you’d find two bedrooms for $1600 here.
I found on Zillow! I set max rent to $1600 and set min beds to 2 beds. I also checked 1 bed under $1600 and found a lot more.
Please post a specific example, this is very good news
This is one I like https://www.zillow.com/apartments/seattle-wa/clairemont-apartments/5jF2yM/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare
Those are all one-bed but it does seem like a decent deal.
Here’s a 2 bed I like https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2460-NE-Northgate-Way-APT-10-Seattle-WA-98125/2088836789_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare Edit: Another: https://www.zillow.com/b/lc125th-seattle-wa-9VXQwD/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare Edit: Another: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3018-NE-137th-St-APT-2-Seattle-WA-98125/2055450616_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare Edit: Another: Edit: Someone snatched this one fast https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/304-Bell-St-3A-Seattle-WA-98121/2054005286_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare
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Yeah I get it. It’s all about proximity to the downtown. But tbh being from Chicago I was not expecting Seattle to even have anything under $2000
Yes, rents have gone down a bit (lot of supply coming online)... Also people tend to complain about how expensive rents are here while ignoring how high incomes are.
Incomes are high? Not for me lol
Yes median income is $115,000 which is very high EDIT: median household income*
*Household* income. Still quite high, but I think it’s important to emphasize household vs individual.
Yes you’re correct I created an edit
To clarify for others reading, $115,000 is the median household income. Still on the higher end
How can it be the median and “still on the higher end”?
On the higher end nationally
Wait...which nation???
Higher end compared to other cities and the US overall ($115K HHI in Seattle vs $75K in US, and $78K per capita income in Seattle vs $41K in US). https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/INC110222#INC110222 https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/seattlecitywashington/INC110222
Holy moly that's high
Yes, the Seattle metro area is a top 5 income market. Hard to find a place where people make more money than here.
Well, to be fair, it's quite easy to find them. As they've conveniently made a list for us!
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Do you feel comfortable sharing the company name?
Remote EA?
Could I DM you to get details to apply?
Does anyone know if rents will stay on the lower end or go back up in March/April?
This is a good question. No one can really answer it though. My neighbor in my apartment building said it’s currently the “renters market” as of now. So it might stick, or might not.
Happens every year like clockwork. You're more likely to find 4-8 week free specials too until about April.
Fees will bury you.
Not mine. It's going up $300/mo next lease. 🙃
Yes, due to multiple factors. One is seasonality. Rent growth is typically charted year over year in industry for this reason. Most markets exhibit seasonality and Seattle is no different. In this case, looking to rent in the winter is generally going to get you better prices than in the summer. Second is supply. Seattle is among the national leaders in apartment supply deliveries this year . Housing follows the laws of supply and demand like any other marketplace. This is most pronounced in the urban core where the supply dump is concentrated and you see newly delivered Class A properties as well as their established competition offering significant concessions/specials to attract tenants. There is a ripple out across the city/area though. Third, net migration trends to the city/region are not as pronounced. Seattle actually lost population between 2020 and 2021. It has since surpassed the 2020 census as the pandemic has subsided and people have returned to the city, but it’s established as a high cost market now and it’s unclear if the growth trends observed in the first 20 years of this century will return.
I think they are back to sanity levels again. I out of curiosity checked prices and saw some decent one bedrooms for $1200-1300 on Capitol Hill. Seemed a lot less ridiculous than it had been.
Less demand these days, more people want to live outside the city, rent prices in the suburbs are higher than the city now.
Please share these 2bedrooms for under 1600... i have seen 0.
I'm sorry, $1,600 for a 2B? Ive been looking for an apartment for myself and I can't find anything half decent below $2,300. Yes winter is significantly cheeper, but it still is super competitive 🥲
usually people don't move during holidays. Apartment managers tend to have incentives (i've heard some have bonuses) to fill occupancy rates Hence some killer deals are available during these off seasons
Yes.
*tire screech* I’m moving very soon to Seattle from a place equally as expensive and this thrills me
I’m from Chicago and currently live there and I’m used to seeing rent priced at this price range but was not expecting to see it in Seattle. I thought you couldn’t find anything under $2000 in Seattle so color me shocked 😳
My friend rated this "big"
Seattle is trash, who would want to live there these days. The suburbs are where the expensive rents are. Sad, but true.
They seem to at least have stabilized. I moved units within my complex this year and got a much bigger, nicer place for only slightly more than what I was paying. Still overpriced, sure, it it feels a lot closer to “reasonable” now.
Yes, we’ve had an enormous amount of new apartments built in the last few years and many are coming online this year and next. That’s pushing rents down for nearly every class of apartments, but will likely fade in coming years as new apartment starts this year are at record lows from increased interest rates.
What areas of Seattle?
Hmm, who would have thought increasing supply with waning demand (people escaping to the suburbs due to crime) lowers prices. Looking at you rent control jokers.
Yes it has dropped according to recent publishings. It’s a good sign or a bad sign depending on your other economic rabbit holes. It is either indicative of a future collapse in the housing market and economy or it is just leveling out of over blown rent trajectories. It won’t go down if it is the second it just won’t rise as fast so it will level out slowly.
I am pretty sure no matter where you live this is the best time to sign a lease. Most management companies I've interacted with who did leases outside of just 12 months wouldn't even let me end a lease in Nov-Jan, sometimes offering 10 and 14 month leases instead. At some places I've talked to they gave variable rates based on when the lease would end with anything on the chart near end of year just being egregiously more expensive presumably because finding a new tenant in these months is difficult.
Affirmative they have dropped
It’s a combo of seasonal rates and rent prices slightly going down. Still seeing landlords price crazy asks during summer and the past few years, honestly they’d probably get it. After this last summer, those places had to adjust price down because supply was up and demand down and a lot of units were sitting empty. Combine with inflation, cost of living going up, landlords have to come down to reality now and realize there’s a cap on rent. You now also see a lot of get first month free.
Watch out for Ala carte fees. Rent might be just $1600 but mandatory electric to landlord, mandatory water, mandatory trash. A ton of things that are standard inside your monthly rent fee here are mandatory additional fees. I’ve seen those fees total anywhere from $50 a month to $600 a month for someone with two cats and a car.