Curbd Seattle has the roundup of rental listing prices for November. Overall, it looks like rent is up a bit year-over-year and flat or slightly down as compared to September, which is in line with a lot of what we’ve seen over the course of the last year. Despite the slower, flatter rate of rents this year, the effects of rent increases are still being felt across the city, including a uptick in homelessness. If rents remain relatively flat this may wind up easing some of the pressure on the purchase market’s inventory by allowing potential buyers to continue renting rather than enter the market. It’s not the best way to correct the market, and it isn’t enough by itself, but it’s something that could have enough of an impact to be worth watching.
And the market is in need of some correcting. The sellers have all the advantages in this current market, with a continuing trend of quick sales and rising prices. I’m going to take the 11% year over year increase in inventory and cling to that as some good news. Realistically, most sellers are buyers, too, so a balanced market will make everybody happy.