Seattle rents rise as apartment construction booms

Seattles hot job scene continues to push up apartment rents, although a building boom may soften the market next year, according to two new reports.

Average rent is now $1,338 in King County, up 5.4 percent both from six months ago and 9 percent from a year earlier, Dupre + Scott Apartment Advisors reported Monday.

Tom Cain, of Apartment Insights, reported that rents in King and Snohomish counties rose 2.5 percent in the third quarter and 8.1 percent over the past year.

The rent increases includes many new apartments, which tend to rent for more, Dupre + Scott principal Patty Dupre noted in the report. Take out new apartments, and the region-wide rent increase falls from 4.7 percent to 3.9 percent since March, and from 8.2 percent to 6.3 percent over the past year.

Because of up and down cycles, rents have gone up by an average of just 3.4% a year since 1997, Dupre said. The increases weve seen lately arent unusual when the economy is strong. But they happen less often than investors think, and they barely make up for the downturns.

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Seattle rents rise as apartment construction booms