What happened to the rents around Spokane? Almost Seattle area prices without the Seattle area salaries? (South Hill: real estate, apartments)

[beenhereandthere]

I was just doing a quick search on Craigslist. Don't have any plans to move there from the West Side of the State. I put in under 1k for apartments and I think less than 100 came up.
Before, say 5 years ago, it would have been easily a few hundred.
I pay 1400 for a 2 bedroom in a South Suburb in Seattle. Which is below average but maybe not a bargin per se. Around Spokane? According to Craigslist that's just above average. WTH?
And since there's no Amazon (or a strong presence anyway), Boeing, etc, just tourism, the AFB and the 3 Universities (counting EWU), where's the salaries to justify this?
Especially on the Idaho side where they could pay you 7.25 per hour if they really wanted to.

[Pughnose]

I'm in the Spokane rental market because I was just informed of a ~40% increase in my rent (from 800ish to 1100ish). Like you, I'm not finding nearly as much as I expected under $1000. I suspect that management companies are increasing rents to make up for eviction moratorium loss of income, and in response to and in anticipation of new state restrictions on landlords.

I was hoping that I'd find cheaper stuff once the eviction moratorium ended and more availability opened up, but that kept getting extended.

[Toyman at Jewel Lake]

I suspect a good part is the idiotic eviction moratorium. Property owners were forced to provide homes for deadbeats for 1 1/2 years that stayed there without paying rent. All while the property owners actually have to pay their bills. Two side effects:

1) Those still in business have to recoup their losses-and are doing so by raising rent. Not only to recoup losses, but to provide for the next time the government steals from them on a whim.

2) Others realize that being a landlord isn't worth it, and get out of the rental business, instead selling their homes outright. This of course cuts down on supply and drives up prices.

[Hemlock140]

There has also been people from here in the Seattle area moving to Spokane for the cheaper prices, and that increases demand and prices. Since some of the larger employers have agreed to permanent "work from home" their big tech salaries go a long way in Spokane. You do have some higher pay employers there, by the way, such as Engie/Ecova/Avista and Itron.

https://www.soundlistings.com/ap-Sea...and-Boise.html

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Spokane is probably getting some spill-over from CDA. With Covid, lots of work from home types have taken advantage of being able to work from anywhere to move to CDA. That has driven real estate prices and rent sharply upward with the increased demand.


CDA has always been a lot more expensive for rent than Spokane, so people getting priced out by the increased rent in CDA will be moving to Spokane where it is cheaper. That increases the demand for housing.


Spokane will have its own supply of work from home people moving in to get away from the big cities. That increases demand.



The eviction moratorium has a lot to do with it. I know landlords all over the country who have decided to sell instead of tolerating the government violating their civil rights to that extent, seizing their private property with no compensation and no legal recourse. That cuts back on the supply of available rentals.


Besides higher rent, landlords are going to be tougher with screening. They want to try to avoid letting anyone in who is going to stop paying rent as soon as they get through the door and then be stuck with them and not be able to get them out.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

In addition to the above, your money is quickly loosing its purchasing power. The actual money isn't worth what it was worth even as recently as 2 years ago. It no longer buys as much and that includes that it doesn't buy as much rent as it used to.

[pnwguy2]

Apartment rents are what the population markets are willing to pay for. There is usually no high or low rent as apartments tend to be competitive with rents. This doesn’t mean you can’t find deals. But generally similar properties have similar rents.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by Toyman at Jewel Lake

I suspect a good part is the idiotic eviction moratorium. ..
1) Those still in business have to recoup their losses-and are doing so by raising rent. ...

2) Others realize that being a landlord isn't worth it, and get out of the rental business, ...

There are about to be some really big additional changes in available housing / affordable rents / Lease Terms.

When the gubmit gets involved in free market commerce, the results are not usually positive for those low on the food chain.

Better get use to living in a vsan / abaondoned car, or under a bridge. (I plan to be a renter throughout retirement, BTDT with home and rental property ownership route.)

[NearFantastica]

Spokane is an absolute sh*thole, lived there for years and hated every second of it. The people were trashy/rude and never made eye contact, the weather is miserable for 9 months straight, the "city" (or lack thereof) consists of crumbling buildings, horrible infrastructure, ghetto/white trash neighborhoods everywhere except South Hill, the food sucked and the fast food was even worse which I never thought possible, average rent for 1 bedroom apartment on South Hill at the time was around $600. You couldn't pay me to live in Spokane again even if everything was dirt cheap, what sane individual would live there with Seattle area prices?

[oregonwoodsmoke]

I just took a quick peek at Spokane real estate prices. Wow, have they gone up.



Nobody is going to buy a 3 bedroom house for $350,000 and then rent it to a minimum wage worker for $300 a month. Mortgage on that hose at that price is abut $1600 a month and then there are the taxes on top of the mortgage payment. Washington state property taxes are high, so taxes add a couple hundred dollars a month to the monthly payment. If that is what houses cost, you are not going to find any cheap rent.


I'm not in Spokane, I am next door and our prices have more than doubled all because of work-from-home people moving here from Seattle. The work-from-home people who could not afford North Idaho prices all moved to Spokane, driving Spokane prices up. Landlords do not get their houses for free. They pay the same price as everyone else pays and they are not going to pay that price and then give the house away for rent that won't even cover the property tax bill.