Article
Rents Going Up
Due to the increase in the demand for Seattle condominiums, the rents there continue to increase year after year. The average rent for a studio apartment in Seattle in spring was around $861 per month, which is almost 11 percent higher than the previous year. Rents for a one bedroom Seattle condominium and two-bedroom apartments have increased to about 10 percent since last year.
Current costs are approximately $1,015 for one bedroom and $1,569 for two bedrooms. Seattle officials say that the increasing rental prices are due to a number of factors including a slowdown in apartment-to-condominium conversions. The slowdown has decreased the number of affordable homes, forcing more would-be buyers to continue renting. Keeping the market trend in mind, today’s buyers prefer to keep on renting rather than investing in property.
This doesn’t seem to be letting up anytime soon. Analysts predict a 17 percent increase in area rents from April 2008 to December 2010. Given the high cost of renting, many lower-income or single-person households have to look hard to find a comfortable Seattle condominium home at an affordable price. Even when they find one, they may have to compete against a number of other prospective renters to secure it, as there are many people itching to move into the apartment of their choice.
Who wouldn’t want to reside in a comfortable Seattle condominium home at a reasonable monthly price? To improve their chances, some renters arrive early to open houses bringing with them all the information necessary to fill out an application on the spot to avoid any delay and even send their tenant résumés to the property owners. For the property with expensive rentals, the competition for property owners' attention is less fierce as not many people are interested in paying high rents.
Renters willing to pay more than about $1,500 a month have significantly more options and less competition. Half an hour after the beginning of an open house in Greenwood, showcasing a separate unit, three bedroom upper portion of a house, renting at $1,575/month, had only a single renter arriving to check it out. Another higher-end rental, a well cared for, beautifully landscaped Seattle condominium house near Seattle Pacific University, renting for $1,800/month for the main floor unit and $900 for the basement, had only one group of four interested students stop by for a look well into the first hour.
The owners, a middle-age couple with a son who recently graduated from SPU, were moving to Pittsburgh and had already bought a home there. They tried for several months to sell the house but finally gave up and decided to rent it out for a year. The $2,700 total monthly rent just barely covers their mortgage. In these times a good apartment at a reasonable rent can be hard to find!
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