Seattle is building far more than many other cities and rents are lowering as a result. Rents are up nationally, but down over 7% in Seattle. If you've visited recently, the amount of new construction and cranes is immense.
Anecdotally, all of my friends renting have had their rents continually raised with no breaks. Perhaps there is a wider trend, but if so, their landlords do not seem aware of it.
Part of that is also a fact that renters face the pressure that real estate firms now use big data to manage the rent accross a set of units. They know people will keep paying to avoid the skids so they can keep both rents high, and vacant houses because the over under makes them money.
If you had the state / city charge rent to owners on vacant property you'd see rents fall through the floor as realestate companies would quickly pack anyone that could pay something into an structure.
There is actually currently a Seattle class action lawsuit on renting because a majority of the corporate landlords use the same big data company to set rents, and the big data company says you must use their rates (and so do the landlords instructing their property managers). It turns out you may not be able to launder price fixing using an algorithm.
Ten years ago people talked about how much Seattle was building and how many cranes were everywhere as well - then as now, it’s because all that building is in the same ten square yards of “urban villages” across the city where you are allowed to build densely.
And now we are running very short of buildable volume. There are not many places left you can build a tower. We need to allow a lot more. Also, in the meantime, we have added more time to the permitting process, all in the name of aesthetics/design, not safety.
The market in Seattle has become softer for sure but is not evenly distributed. In my area, the vacancy rate for apartments appears to be in the 10-20% range depending on the building and the incentives are becoming more aggressive. A bit more surprising, some housing prices in nice neighborhoods have also declined since a couple years ago (some areas have also increased). Renting makes a lot of sense in Seattle right now.
