Yesterday I posted my letter to the Seattle Times about an upcoming story they appeared to be putting together. The story ran and it had the usual Mad Lib headline:  After brief slowdown, Seattle-area rents surge back up again; when will it end? Well not too long passed before I got this e-mail in my in box:

Hi Roger

Just want to clarify rent trends reported today…. Or rant …. Or both.

Today’s Seattle times headline “Seattle rents surge back up again” is technically correct the way the reporter worded things but it is misleading.

• He is right that King County rents rose 8.3% in the past 12 months.
• But how is it a “surge back up” when it is the lowest 12-month increase since the spring of 2015?
• And how is it a “surge back up” when King county rents increased just 2.4% in the past 6 months – making this the lowest 6-month increase since the spring of 2012 (rephrase: the slowest 6-month increase in the past four years).

Mike Scott

Dupre + Scott Apartment Advisors, Inc.

Scott, of course, is one of the regions preeminent experts in the rental housing market. The Times just doesn’t want to improve its reporting on this topic. Instead, the paper seems bent on adding to the price hysteria that powers the bad policy coming out of City Hall. Yet another chance to use the new term, “Fake News.” When it comes to real estate reporting, the Seattle Times is full of it.