Seattle Multifamily Report – November 2024
Average advertised asking rents are still above the national figure.
Seattle’s multifamily fundamentals maintained generally healthy performance in 2024, despite ongoing challenges in the financial landscape. At the end of the third quarter, average advertised asking rents were down 0.3 percent on a trailing three-month basis, to $2,216, while the national rate flattened, at $1,750. Meanwhile, the occupancy rate in stabilized properties rose 0.2 percent year-over-year, to 95.5 percent, in September.
Employment growth improved, at 1.1 percent in the 12 months ending in July, but still trailed the 1.3 percent national average. Meanwhile, the jobless rate clocked in at 4.8 percent in August, outperformed by the 4.2 percent U.S. figure, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nearly half of the 27,600 jobs added during the first seven months of 2024 were registered in the education and health services sector (12,700 jobs), followed by government (6,300 jobs). Information was the only sector that recorded a loss, down 7,300 positions. Notable projects underway in Seattle include Amazon’s Bellevue 600, a 1.5 million-square-foot office development, and FRED310, an industrial campus that will total 4 million square feet.
Developers delivered 8,758 units in 2024 through September and had another 22,846 units under construction. Meanwhile, investment activity surpassed last year’s total, amounting to $1.3 billion, with the per-unit price dropping below the $300,000 mark.
