Affordable housing facts
More than 1,245 men, women and children are homeless on any given night in Spokane County.
Spokane Regional One Day Count 2018 3,068 Spokane County school children were identified as homeless during the 2018-2019 school year. School Districts' McKinney-Vento Statistics 2019 A person living in Spokane County has to earn an hourly wage of $17.02 to afford to pay the rent and utilities for a modest two-bedroom home. National Low Income Housing Coalition Out of Reach Report 2019. |
Our local housing affordability is challenged by low household incomes and low vacancy rates among affordable rentals.
The poverty rate among local families is over 17% The poverty rate among all households in Spokane County is 14.4%. For households with children under 18, the poverty rate is 17.8% (The American Community Survey 2014-2018 5-Year Estimates) 24% of our Spokane County households cannot afford an average 2-bedroom rental A home is considered affordable if its occupants are paying no more than 30 percent of their monthly income for rent and utilities. The 2019 Real Estate Report, published by the Spokane County - Kootenai County Real Estate Research Committee, reveals that the average rent amount in Spokane County is $1250. A Spokane County household must make over $50,000 annually to afford that rent. According to the 2018 American Community Survey, more than 46% of the households in Spokane County make less than $50,000 annually. The vacancy rate among affordable rentals is 2.0% The demand for affordable housing is high. According to the January 2018 SLIHC Semi-Annual Rental Survey, the vacancy rate among 4,450 affordable housing rentals owned by SLIHC members was 2.0%. Available Housing Inventory is shrinking In 2018, the Spokane Association of REALTORS® reported that the inventory of houses and condos listed for sale was down 20% compared to a year ago. In March 2018, there were roughly 1,000 homes for sale across the county — about 20% fewer than March of 2017. Forecasts for the housing market in Spokane, Washington. The median home value in Spokane is $205,600 on Zillow. Spokane home values have gone up 10.5% over the past year and Zillow’s Spokane real estate market prediction is that the prices will rise 8.9% in 2020. The median list price per square foot in Spokane is $202, which is higher than the Spokane-Spokane Valley Metro average of $191. The median price of homes currently listed in Spokane is $235,500 while the median price of homes that sold is $200,900. The median rent price in Spokane is $1,250, which is lower than the Spokane-Spokane Valley Metro median of $1,295. (Norada Real Estate Investments Report 2019) Click here for reports about Affordable Housing in Spokane. |