So you're a renter on the West Coast. For years, that meant you were in for world of pain, as the "superstar cities" of Seattle and San Francisco just got more and more unaffordable. The shoe is on the other foot now, says Capital Economics, a London-based research firm. To be sure, their analysis looked at the rental market from the perspective of commercial landlords, and it sees "the greatest pain" in west-coast apartment stock, and it's Seattle, not San Francisco, in for the biggest hit. But renters in Seattle could finally be catching a real break.
As the rental market softens in several pockets of the country, the West Coast will be most affected, according to Kiran Raichura, Capital Economics’ deputy chief property economist. He sees a few reasons that apartment vacancies will double in Seattle by 2025, jumping to 14%, leading rents in the city to fall and apartment values to crater. As Raichura's team put it: "Those forecasts mean only Austin and Houston are forecast to see a net increase in capital values over 2023–27 with Seattle predicted to see values fall by more than 30%."
