Half of renters have pets, Zillow sends most rental inquiries, and renewals beat re-renting on rent. Those are three of the five findings in the Seattle Area Rental Market Report 2026. It's built from a year of our own rental data (Nov 1, 2025 to Oct 31, 2026): more than 16,000 online inquiries from people looking for a home, and every listing and lease across the homes we manage in King, Snohomish, Pierce, Kitsap, Whatcom and Island counties.
Pets, pricing, renewals and lease dates are calls owners make every year, and each one has a number behind it. Below are the five that stood out, what each one means, and what we'd do about it.
Read the full report →
The year in five numbers
- 51% of renters have a dog, a cat or both.
- 61% of rental inquiries came through Zillow.
- 3 bedrooms at $2,000 to $2,999 is the home renters want most.
- 4.9% was the typical rent increase at renewal. A new resident typically brought none.
- March is the fastest month to lease a home.
Do renters want homes that allow pets?
Yes, and more of them than before. In 2018, about 4 in 10 renters who answered our pet question had a dog, a cat or both. Since 2022, it has been about half.
This year, 745 of the 1,474 renters who answered had pets: 51%. Dogs led at 26% of households, cats at 16%, and 9% had both. More than four in ten of the leases we signed this year have a pet on them.
Pet owners were good residents, too. Among residents who moved out of homes we manage over the last two years, 25% of those with pets had ever paid late, against 29% of those without. They stayed about as long: 30 months against 29.
What to do: a no-pets rule turns away half the people looking, and our numbers don't show the risk to justify it. Screen every pet the way you screen every resident, and say yes.
This counts pets only. Service and assistance animals aren't pets, and different rules apply to them.
Where do renters look for a home?
Zillow. 61% of the renters who contacted us came through it: 9,760 of 16,053 inquiries, counting Zillow's instant tours. No other site sent more than one in seven. RentMarketplace (Rent.'s listing network) sent 14%, and Apartments.com 5%.
That concentration changes where an owner's effort should go. Most renters will see your home once, on one site, next to the other homes in your area at your price. That one listing has to do the work.
What to do: treat your Zillow listing as your storefront. Good photos and the right price there matter more than being on every site.
What kind of rental do renters want most?
A three-bedroom home renting for $2,000 to $2,999.
Three-bedroom homes drew 2.5 inquiries a day, more than twice the rate of one-bedrooms (1.2). Homes priced $2,000 to $2,999 drew the most interest of any price range, 2.6 to 2.7 inquiries a day. They leased quickly, too: a typical home in that range leased in 9 to 12 days. Homes under $2,000 took 17 to 20, so a lower price doesn't automatically mean a faster lease.
Two-bedroom homes were close behind, at 2.0 inquiries a day, and leased in a typical 15 days, against 12 for three-bedrooms.
What to do: if your home is near this range, price it to stay in it.
Does keeping a good resident pay?
Yes. Renewals raised rent a typical 4.9%. A new resident typically brought no increase at all.
Over the last year, when a home changed residents, the typical new rent was the same as the last one. More than half re-rented for the same or less. Every month a home sits empty between residents also costs a full month of rent. On a $2,400 home, that's $2,400 a renewal would have kept.
Good residents are staying longer, too. Residents who moved out on their own had stayed a typical two years, up from 21.5 months the year before. Most left for life reasons: a new job, a move, or buying a home. About 1 in 15 said the rent was too high.
What to do: start the renewal early, and make it one a good resident wants to sign.
Rent changes and renewal notices follow Washington law and local rules, which differ from city to city.
When is the best time to have a rental on the market?
Early spring. Homes listed in March leased in a typical 7 days, and in April 9.
May is when the most homes come on the market, and the most sit: homes listed in May took 20 days, and nearly a third sat for more than a month. Listing in March or April puts your home ahead of that crowd. November was slow, too, at 19 days.
What to do: if you're signing a new lease, think about a term that ends in March or April. If spring is out of reach, October is the next best month: homes listed then leased in a typical 11 days.
Changing an existing lease's end date comes with notice rules that differ by city, so check yours first.
Planning your rental for 2027
Put together, the five findings make a short checklist for the year ahead:
- Screen every pet the way you screen every resident, and say yes.
- Make your Zillow listing your best: good photos and the right price.
- If your home is near $2,000 to $2,999, price it to stay in that range.
- Start renewals early with residents you want to keep.
- For new leases, aim for an end date in March or April, or October as a backup.
What does this mean for your home?
A free rental analysis puts these findings to work on your home: what it can rent for, who is looking for it, and when it should be on the market. No obligation.
Get your free rental analysis
How we got these numbers: every figure comes from The Joseph Group's own records for the rental homes we manage in King, Snohomish, Pierce, Kitsap, Whatcom and Island counties, Nov 1, 2025 to Oct 31, 2026, unless noted. Leasing speed by month and by price uses two years of listings. "Typical" means the median: half the homes were above it and half below. Our homes are a large sample of the Puget Sound rental market, not all of it. This post describes what happened. It is not legal advice.
