There are a variety of causes of us transfer to Seattle from across the nation. Spacious flats isn’t one among them.
Seattle flats constructed previously 10 years have a mean dimension of 649 sq. ft, based on a brand new report from RentCafe.com, an house search web site. Among the many 100 U.S. cities with the most important variety of rental models, Seattle ranks final for common house dimension.
Seattle flats was once a bit greater. Ten years in the past, they averaged 706 sq. ft. However as the price of housing rose, builders responded by constructing smaller flats, together with a slew of micro-units, which may be as tiny as 150 sq. ft. Many renters in Seattle appear keen to sacrifice residing house to decrease the hire.
Based on the report, new building in Seattle more and more centered on studios and one-bedrooms, which have additionally shrunk in dimension over the previous decade. For instance, the report reveals that the typical studio in Seattle is now 371 sq. ft, down from 442 sq. ft one decade earlier.
Flats with two or extra bedrooms now make up solely 19% of latest stock, down from 24% 10 years in the past. However not like studios and one-bedrooms, the bigger flats have grown barely.
Tiny flats would possibly present an answer to counter the excessive price of housing in Seattle for some — particularly, single individuals. And actually, single individuals are a big and rising section of town’s inhabitants. In my earlier column, I reported on new census information displaying that for the primary time, half of all males in Seattle have been never-married singles.
Small flats don’t work practically as effectively for {couples} or households, who would possibly discover themselves having to look outdoors of Seattle for housing.
Among the many 100 cities within the report, just one different had a mean new house dimension under 700 sq. ft: Portland, the place the micro-unit development has additionally taken maintain. The Rose Metropolis ranked second with a mean of 668 sq. ft.
Two New York Metropolis boroughs take the third and fourth spots, with Queens at 702 sq. ft adopted by Brooklyn at 708 sq. ft. San Francisco rounds out the highest 5 cities for smallest new flats, averaging 716 sq. ft.
Nationally, there was a current uptick in common house dimension since 2022. Earlier than that, sq. footage was on a reasonably regular downward slide.
Among the many 100 cities within the report, 85 have seen flats shrink over the previous 10 years. Detroit had essentially the most dramatic lower, with the typical house down by 184 sq. ft, or 25%. Based on the report, Detroit is experiencing an identical development as Seattle and Portland towards building of a lot smaller flats.
A lot of the 15 cities the place models have elevated in dimension are smaller and fewer densely populated, however there are some exceptions. In San Francisco, the typical unit grew 59 sq. ft, and the typical house dimension additionally elevated within the New York Metropolis boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.
So the place can you reside if you’d like room to stretch out?
The ten cities with the most important common house dimension are situated within the Sunbelt. Tallahassee ranked No. 1, with a mean of 1,130 sq. ft, 74% bigger than Seattle. One other Florida metropolis, Gainesville, ranked second at 1,122 sq. ft, adopted by Baton Rouge, La., at 1,055 sq. ft.
The house dimension and hire information are present as of February 2025. The info comes from Yardi Matrix, a RentCafe.com sister firm specializing in house market data for greater than 177 U.S. markets.
