Approximately 1.8 million U.S. renter households can no longer afford the median-priced home in their market due to the less affordability of homeownership over the past five and a half years, according to a recent report from CBRE.
With more renter households unable to afford homeownership, CBRE forecasts that multifamily occupancy rates will remain higher than historical averages for years to come. Seattle was in the middle of the pack of cities across the nation in terms of renters’ ability to afford a median-priced home. Seattle’s buying premium has increased by about 70% since the pandemic.
From 2019 to 2025, nearly 19,400 Seattle renter households could afford a median-priced home, ranking 12th among the 25 largest markets. Seattle ranked 14th out of the 25 largest markets in terms of the percentage of renter households that can afford a median-priced home. About 12% of Seattle’s renter households can afford a median-priced home as of Q2 2025. This is down from 16.4% in Q4 2019 and below the national average of 12.7%.
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