The Seattle housing market just can’t seem to stay out of the news, can it? This time it’s shrinking, literally. In odd news, Seattle is building some of the smallest apartments in the US right now, and here’s why.
RentCafe has had its eye on the housing market, specifically how big or small developers have been going. It turns out that the average size of new apartments in 2022 was 887 square feet, which is a 54 square-foot decrease since 10 years ago. Not only that but it was also the largest year-over-year decrease, down a total of 30 square feet.
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How does Seattle match up? Well, Seattle apartments are officially the smallest apartments in the country. New apartments were only 659 square feet in 2022. What's more, sizes have continued to shrink throughout the last decade, "registering a decrease of 5%, or 30 square feet when compared to 10 years ago."
The top ten cities with the smallest apartments in the US are as follows:
- Seattle, WA
- Queens, NY & Portland, OR
- Brooklyn, NY
- Detroit, MI
- Manhattan, NY
- San Francisco, CA
- Washington, DC
- Boston, MA
- Philadelphia, PA & Silver Spring, MD
- St. Paul, MN
So why are apartments so small?
The quick answer is that more studios and one-bedroom apartments are entering the market. That being said, things could change as the housing market fluctuates post pandemic, but we'll assume things in Seattle will stay pretty small.
