- Manhattan:Apartment Rents Drop as Employers Cut Jobs
- Houston: Renters are snagging deals in a slowing local market
- Tuscon: On your mark, get set, go! Apartment firm makes game of it.
- Nashville: Apartment rates squeezed by lower demand
- Nationwide: Renters look for thirfty comfort, not style
- Tokyo: Apartment rents under pressure
- Middle East: 17% fall in rents seen in Qatar this year
- Orange County: O.C. renters get twice the freebies
Falling Rents In Puget Sound
Over the weekend several people sent me a link about rents in the Seattle area. Please consider Apartment rents falling in Puget Sound area.
A shrinking number of jobs and a growing supply of apartments will continue to push the Puget Sound region’s rents down next year as vacancy rates climb, industry experts predict.
Job losses killed our market, and development buried it," Mike Scott, of Dupre + Scott Apartment Advisors, told landlords at an industry conference Tuesday.
The average monthly rent across all apartment types in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties fell from $988 to $959 during the 12 months ending in September, and a continuing decline through 2011 will further cut that figure to $889, Dupre + Scott projects.
While demand for apartments is falling, the supply is rising.
So far, 4,100 new units have opened this year, and more than 2,000 others are expected to become available by year-end, according to Dupre + Scott.
The firm estimates that about 20 percent of the 6,000 condos completed in the past three years are also on the rental market now.
The combination of job losses and new units has upped the region’s vacancy rates from 6.6 percent last spring to 7.2 percent now, and heading toward 9 percent next year, the firm said.
To attract renters, landlords