Report: Seattle Rents Went Up by 11 Percent Last Month, Biggest Surge in Country

"Investor demand" is driving up rents in Seattle, according to a new report. lembi/ Shutterstock

Curbed Seattle:

Rental site Abodo has released their National Apartment Report for May 2016 and it includes a breakdown of the places in the U.S. where average one-bedroom rents rose and fell over the last month. In Seattle, not only did one-bedroom rents rise, they rose more than any other city in the nation.

Seattle one-bedroom apartment rents shot up from $1,722 to $1,906 between April and May, according to Abodo.* The company says "investor demand" is driving the country's biggest rent hikes in places like Seattle. As Charles noted last week:

Housing, under the current condition, is not strictly about supply and demand but about leverage, interest rates, spreads, stock indices, and yield-hungry surplus capital. All of these financial features exert a big force on the present at the cost of what can only reward investments on affordable housing, the future. Support The Stranger More than ever, we depend on your support to help fund our coverage. Support local, independent media with a one-time or recurring donation. Thank you!

Last year, a Journal of Urban Affairs study found that for every increase of $100 in median rents, the homeless population in metro areas increased by an average 15 percent.

*Abodo doesn't bother sharing its methodology with us, but Curbed notes that its findings track fairly closely with those of another company, Zumper, which recently pegged median Seattle one-bedroom rents at $1,770.