Report: Seattle Apartment Market Shows Signs of Life

Kidder Mathews’ multifamily team, led by Dylan Simon and Jerrid Anderson, released its third-quarter market research on the Seattle and Puget Sound apartment markets.

“The real estate market in Puget Sound is showing signs of life again — and bringing more liquidity and clarity on pricing as a result,” said Simon. “With little new construction on the horizon, we expect sustained modest rental rate growth as new supply continues to get absorbed.”

Key insights from the report highlighted that rental rates were up 2% year-over-year in Puget Sound, with most of that growth taking place in the last quarter. Transactions are up healthily year-over-year both in number of transactions and dollar volume.

Additionally, although vacancy ticked up during the last quarter for certain product types in specific markets, this was largely the result of continued deliveries of new product that has yet to be absorbed. However, with a shrinking construction pipeline, the expected dearth of new supply should help continue to drive vacancy rates down and rental rates up.