Issue 22
Larger cities across Washington State have seen an upsurge in multi-family construction over the last several years - much of this is built for rent.
The Federal Reserve of St Louis, citing Census Bureau data indicates nationally, the August 2025 single family housing starts to be 890,000, 2-4 units were at 14,000, and multi-family (5+ units) were at 403,000 (annualized rates).
- https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/HOUST1FQ
- https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/HOUST2F
- https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/HOUST5F
In other words, nationally, multi-family accounted for approximately 31.9% of the housing developed. Much of that will likely be for rent, although condoized units would be included in that total as well.
However, looking at Washington State in August, the non-annualized permitted (not started - can't get an apples-to-apples number at the moment) numbers told a much different story - 53.98% of the units were 2+ units. That means, generally-speaking in Washington State, our for-ownership rate of units being built at the moment is lower than that for rent.
Here is the source for the permit info: https://www.census.gov/construction/bps/statemonthly.html
OK, but units are units, right?
Well, in the sense that they provide shelter and that a better supply of all housing will help all housing prices stabilize, that is correct. However, when we think of healthy communities, we need a balance of for-rent housing units and for-ownership housing units. Here are a few talking points:
- Homeowners have a much higher net worth than renters (check out this article from CNN: https://www.census.gov/construction/bps/statemonthly.html)
- Because of their higher net worth and greater stability, they have more expendible income to spend and invest in their communities
- Homeowners are less likely to sell and move as often as renters, making it difficult for renters to get established and put down roots. In fact, a recent article in MyNorthwest.com cited a study that indicated that Seattle renters move as often as every two years. (https://mynorthwest.com/local/seattle-renters-study/4141744)
- In fact, in our own little Bellingham, WA, a 2023 Housing Preference Survey indicated that 87% of Bellinghamsters would prefer to own (https://cob.org/services/planning/comprehensive-plan/periodic-update/prr-housing-survey/2023-housing-preference-survey-results-dashboard). However, our own numbers indicate a homeownership rate of only 45% - a trend that has been heading downwards. Dig into the metrics at Bellingham's Housing Story website: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/3e1c77f31cbf4cc8bf94b39f62970fdf
Lets take a look at how the homeownership rate has changed as a country over the last 50+ years:
