Ballard sees largest rent increase, higher vacancy rate in new study

Danielle Anthony-Goodwin Ballard

By Joe Veyera

According to our news partner The Seattle Times, a new study from Seattle-based Apartment Insights Washington shows that Ballard posted the biggest increase in apartment rents for new leases, along with the highest vacancy rate in the Seattle area in the second quarter of this year.

As reported by The Seattle Times’ Sanjay Bhatt:

Apartments in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood saw the biggest increase in rents. The average asking rent was 12.3 percent higher over the quarter, rising to $1,628.

But Ballard also had a vacancy rate of 8.6 percent, the highest in Seattle. And when new apartments that just opened are included, the vacancy rate shoots up to 18 percent.

The apartment boom in Ballard has led to a doubling of the inventory over the past six years, said Tom Cain, head of Apartment Insights Washington. When the units now being built are complete, Ballard’s inventory will have quadrupled.

New units rent for a premium, and they’re part of what’s driving up market rents, Cain said.

The figures are for rents for new leases (not accounting for utilities or other fees) from a May survey of 50+ unit apartment properties.

In comparison, Seattle area (King and Snohomish County) rents climbed 4.1 percent to an average of $1,284 per month, with rents in the Seattle city limits averaging $1,441. The vacancy rate in both Seattle, and in King and Snohomish counties is at 4.2 percent.

To read the entire story from the Times, click here.

23 thoughts to “Ballard sees largest rent increase, higher vacancy rate in new study”

  4. My rent for a 2 bedroom in a fourplex was just raised from $1200 a month (no utilities incl) to $1450. That hurts I have to say. That’s a 22% jump. Ugh. Although I will say my rent was low and the place is definitely worth it. But rent inflation in this city really is not equitable to pay inflation/cost of living raises.

  6. Jane– you ignorant slut.

    Ballard will remain decent, despite the increased density and lack of parking. Many of us will need to learn to ride bikes, or otherwise walk to destinations we previously drove to.

    Get with it.

  9. Walk or ride a bike? C’mon son! I can’t stand most people who have moved to Ballard in the the last 15 years, seems like that’s when the influx of micro brew drinking, hipster stiffs invaded.

  12. mjd – Rents are going up, in large part, because many of the units are new and require/demand higher rents. Vacancy has gone up because these new apartment building start off being empty.

  13. I love how the dissenting voices on this comment threads only come from trolls like Hobo Hilton who has been trolling this site forever it seems.

  14. This thread says it all. Ballard completely changing from a working class neighborhood of kind polite people who drove cars to the new rude insulting pig invasion on bicycles calling all the long time residents names and asking us to leave. Glad my house will be worth so much more money when I sell it to you and honor your request. All things must pass. No doubt Seattle is becoming an entirely different place than it once was. A place I like less as time passes. But it is still fortunate compared to many places. It could be worse, Sven.

  15. Working class neighborhood of kind, polite people?
    What alternative universe do you live in.

    Ballard has never been kind. All the scandanavian settlers were a cold, inhospitable people who shunned outsiders.

    And if your house is in a zone where it will be razed to make room for new development, you won’t get nearly as much money for it as you think. In fact, the price is dropping as we speak.

  16. “This thread says it all. Ballard completely changing from a working class neighborhood of kind polite people who drove cars”

    1. Does the term “working class” only apply to some jobs? Like, does it only apply to fishermen and construction workers? Do people with jobs in tech or healthcare not work for a living?

    2. If only cyclists are invading then why is everyone always complaining about a lack of parking?

  17. Thank you Bob and Jimmy for substantiating my remarks. OK, working class better said as blue collar. Seattle flipped from a blue collar city to a white collar city as a lot of the US has, just more dramatically here.

    And parking disappears without being replaced elsewhere. High density housing goes in with little requirements for parking but every unit still has one or two cars.

    Seattle is drunk with the bicycle thing. They put bike lanes on Greenwood Ave N no one uses. Bikes block bus lanes on Elliott Ave W going 10 mph because they are too inconsiderate to get up on the sidewalk for 5 seconds and let the bus by. All this money spent for little benefit to most people. You are not saving the planet. The are more emissions from traffic backing up everywhere from fewer traffic lanes so 1-2% of commuters can bicycle. Give bicycles the right of way on side streets and leave the arterial streets for cars and buses. Green Lake accommodates bikes and pedestrians, why can’t Elliot Ave W and similar higher speed streets? Bikes should not even be allowed on Aurora Ave lanes. SDOT is anti-car and bicycle fanatic.

  21. Hobo Hilton,
    143rd St isn’t Ballard! Of course the rent is cheap there – you can’t walk anywhere convenient. That’s practically Shoreline.

  22. “143rd St isn’t Ballard! ”

    It’s Seattle and has cheaper rent for the aggrieved poster.

    You don’t have a right to live where ever you want, you live where you can afford. Can’t afford Ballard? Move to Greenwood or Lake City Way.

    I wanted to buy a house in Queen Anne to be closer to work; you don’t see me stomping my feet and demanding the gub’ment help me because I couldn’t afford the right size home there.

  23. Hobo Hilton rules! 143rd St. – no bikes, plenty of parking, “working class” folks, few hipsters and no microbrew drinking to be had. Pete, Josh, Demian, Maggie and Jane “you ignorant slut”, sounds like paradise, right?

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