Rising rents becoming an issue in Spokane County

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) – Higher rents are becoming an issue in Spokane County, where a new report says half of renters are spending over 30 percent of their income on rent.

Rents in the Spokane market have increased notably over the past year and a half. That’s according to Terri Anderson, co-director of the Spokane Tenants Union.

The Spokesman-Review reports that rents in Spokane are rising while wages remain stagnant.

Besides stagnant incomes, Spokane is facing another factor that’s driving up rent: low apartment vacancy and high demand.

Spokane has a 2.9 percent apartment vacancy rate with an average rental rate of $886, according to a September 2017 report by the University of Washington’s Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies.

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Information from: The Spokesman-Review, http://www.spokesman.com