2025 Mid-Year Update: Greater Seattle Area Single-Family Rental Housing
By the time you read this, we will be closer to 2050 than we were to 2000 – yikes! Crossing the mid-way point of 2025, we’ve seen some trends develop in the leasing world, but of course, the big news is the passage of rent control, which went into effect on May 7.
Statistics covered in this article, unless otherwise noted, come from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service and will focus primarily on houses, townhomes, and condominium units (very few apartments are included in this data).
ON THE LEGAL FRONT
HB 1217 (effective date May 7, 2025):
This policy, known as rent control, creates a maximum annual rent increase for existing tenancies between 7% and 10% depending on the current CPI (Consumer Price Index). This policy does NOT affect rental pricing for new tenancies, and there are limited exceptions. This also requires the rent increase notice to be formally served like a default notice, and increases the minimum notice period from 60 days to 90 days (Note: that many local jurisdictions require longer notice periods, some up to 180-days or more).
HB 1003 (effective date July 27, 2025):
This policy creates a more stringent requirement for the formal service of notices from landlords to tenants. One must attempt to serve these notices in person, and unless you are able to hand a notice to each tenant, you must also mail the notice to each person by Certified mail. If ever there were a legal policy that made absolutely no sense whatsoever, this would be it. At press time in a poll among residents within our management portfolio, over 96% of respondents have indicated a preference for electronic notice delivery rather than formal service and certified mail. We are working closely with lawmakers to overturn this law and create a more efficient policy in the 2026 legislative session. As evidenced by the results of our poll, this is also what renters are asking for.
RENTAL MARKET TRENDS
When running statistics at the end of 2024, we found that rental pricing for Eastside Single-Family rental homes had increased by over 39% since 2019 (pre-COVID baseline). At the midyear mark in 2025, pricing for Eastside homes has slipped ever so slightly since mid-2024 (down by 2.3%).
Meanwhile, average rental pricing in the other seven sub-markets that we track (throughout King, Pierce, & Snohomish Counties) are up from this time a year ago (anywhere from 0.5% to 7.7%). We will consider the 21.5% increase in the Eastside Multi-Family market to be an outlier, as some very large (and expensive!) penthouse condominiums leased in Downtown Bellevue this spring.
“LEASING HOT SPOTS”
I define this term as any sub-category that we track with at least 10 properties leased at an average of 20 days on market or less. Back in 2024, no sub-markets in Seattle met this definition, nor did condominiums in any location. During the first half of 2025, things have changed. On the Seattle side: 3-bedroom homes in the Central Seattle area and 4-bedroom homes in the Ballard / Green Lake neighborhoods have become “leasing hot spots.” Additionally: 1-bedroom condominium units in downtown Bellevue reached this definition for the first half of 2025. Single-family homes all throughout the Eastside remain in high demand (Bellevue, Kirkland, Renton, etc.).
PREDICTIONS FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE YEAR
For the sake of renters throughout Washington state, I would love to be proven wrong, but I do believe that the cap on rent increases will have a psychological effect on housing providers; to the point where rent increases are pushed toward the maximum level, whereas they otherwise would not have been absent a cap. The idea that a business can be “controlled” as to its revenue, but not its operating expenses, is a tough pill to swallow. Rental housing will remain in very high demand, as it represents by far and away the best opportunity for – relatively speaking – affordable housing.
Cory Brewer is the VP of Residential Operations at Lori Gill & Associates Property Management. His firm oversees management of over 2,000 residential rental homes throughout the Greater Seattle Area. He may be contacted via wpme@windermere.com. Visit their website www.wpmnorthwest.com.