Downtown Seattle Rents Rise for the First Time in 17 Months as Amazon Workers Go Back to the Office Full Time

Redfin reports the median asking rent for an apartment in downtown Seattle grew 2.5% year over year in December to $2,000—the first rise in 17 months.

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- (NASDAQ: RDFN) — Downtown Seattle apartment rents grew for the first time in 17 months in December, rising 2.5% year over year to a median $2,000. That’s according to a new report from Redfin (redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage.

The slight uptick in the median asking rent came ahead of the January implementation of Amazon’s return-to-work policy, requiring staff to work in the office five days a week.

Over the past few years, rent trends in downtown Seattle followed a similar pattern to the pandemic-era real estate cycle observed in many major metros.

After climbing to nearly $2,500 prior to the pandemic in 2020, the median asking rent for downtown Seattle fell all the way to $1,399 in February 2021 as Seattle’s tech-driven workforce moved away from the city center and transitioned to working from home. As offices started to re-open, demand increased and the median rent rose all the way to $3,118 in August 2022. Since then, rents have fallen by roughly 36% to where they are today thanks to a major uptick in apartment construction.

Too early to tell if Amazon’s return-to-work policy is impacting rents

In late 2024, Seattle-based tech company Amazon announced that all staff were required to work in the office five days a week from January 1, up from three days a week previously. Anecdotally, the increase in Amazon workers traveling downtown daily has led to longer commute times and heavier traffic on the roads over the first few weeks of the year.

But it remains to be seen whether the policy will impact rental demand.

Redfin Senior Economist Sheharyar Bokhari said it’s too early to tell whether Amazon’s return-to-work policy effected the uptick in Seattle’s downtown rents in December, given that most workers already live within commuting distance of their office.

“Seattle has been building more new apartments than almost any metro outside of the Sun Belt these past few years. That has helped keep rents in check—even after workers returned to hybrid or full-time office work following the pandemic,” Bokhari said. “But as new construction levels off and workers from large companies like Amazon increasingly expect their staff to work daily in downtown offices, rents may start ticking up in Seattle’s inner-ring neighborhoods where commuting is made easier.”

Capitol Hill rents rose 7.2%, while South Lake Union and Queen Anne fell more than 13%

Among Seattle’s inner neighborhoods, Capitol Hill rents rose the most in December, climbing 7.2% year over year to $1,825. Next came the Central District (+1.2%) and Westlake (+1%). (Note: This report only analyzed neighborhoods with sufficient data.)

Asking rents in Seattle’s inner neighborhoods

	Asking Rent (December)	Asking Rent YoY Change
Downtown Seattle	$2,000	+2.5%
Capitol Hill	$1,825	+7.2%
Central District	$1,895	+1.2%
Westlake	$2,265	+1%
Queen Anne	$1,981	-13.7%
South Lake Union	$2,385	-13.5%
Seattle Metro Area	$2,017	+0.5%

At the other end of the spectrum, Queen Anne (-13.7%) and South Lake Union (-13.5%) saw falls in asking rents in December, from a year earlier.

Results were mixed on the east side, where many of Seattle’s tech employees work. The median asking rent in downtown Redmond rose 4.3% to $2,350, but fell 3% in downtown Bellevue to $2,579.

For the overall Seattle metro area, the median asking rent was up 0.5% in December to $2,017.

To view the full report including charts and methodology, please visit: https://www.redfin.com/news/seattle-rent-report

About Redfin

Redfin (www.redfin.com) is a technology-powered real estate company. We help people find a place to live with brokerage, rentals, lending, and title insurance services. We run the country's #1 real estate brokerage site. Our customers can save thousands in fees while working with a top agent. Our home-buying customers see homes first with on-demand tours, and our lending and title services help them close quickly. Our rentals business empowers millions nationwide to find apartments and houses for rent. Since launching in 2006, we've saved customers more than $1.6 billion in commissions. We serve approximately 100 markets across the U.S. and Canada and employ over 4,000 people.

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Kenneth Applewhaite

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Source: Redfin