In the last year, around 2,000 new apartment units have been added to the Seattle rental market. But the supply is still not meeting the extreme demand. Monthly rent increases of $100-$500 have been seen in recent months as tenants come around to renew their leases.
Ashley Hayes, of Point3 Real Estate and UrbanAsh.com was recently interviewed by SeattleTimes, KOMO and KING 5 news to give her comments on the rise in prices.
She says the prices are still increasing because of a demand stemming from two trends. Inventory is shrinking because of the large amount of employee relocation to places like Amazon and Microsoft. Secondly, a number of private rental owners have been waiting for the real estate market to recover and are now selling their properties.
The rental market should relax a bit in the next nine months when the many apartment buildings under construction in the area start accepting new tenants.