The sticker shock of 50-percent rent increases is making headlines in some markets, such as Seattle, where a renewing resident was aghast at having to pay $2,130 for a 700-square-foot, one-bedroom in North Greenwood, up from $1,440.

Apartment owners are easy targets for such situations, however a closer examination of the circumstances—did somebody say “supply and demand”? — brings rationality to the situation.

This example came from The Seattle Times on Aug. 3 and was posted to Lisa Trosien’s Apartment Expert Facebook page.

This community is managed by Weidner Apartment Homes, which uses revenue management software. Greg Cerbana, Vice President of PR for Weidner, says the $2,130 rent offer (12-month term) was one of many options generated and offered to the resident, who had lived in the community for 10 months.

“What wasn’t reported was that the resident had a number of different options available to him that would have significantly changed the rental rate. For example, the 11-month lease offer was $1,608, a far cry from the $2,130 option cited in the Seattle Times” Cerbana says. “There were others ranging from $1,700 on up with the highest rate around $2,800 had he wanted a month-to-month lease. Revenue management takes so many factors into account: site traffic, expiration dates of other residents, move-in and move-out dates, length of lease, the predictability of other renewals.”

The Seattle Times article reported that the resident chose to move in with a friend instead.

“My concern is that articles like this tend to distort the complete picture, and focus on the more salacious aspects of the story to chase a false narrative,” Cerbana says. “By sharing this information, my hope is to shed light on the situation and urge reporters who cover the apartment industry to dig deeper to get the full story,” Cerbana says.

In any case, the article brought a variety of online responses from industry professionals:

** “Don’t like the price? Don’t live there. Pretty simple. The market drives the price. You can always go buy your own place and not worry about rent. Imagine it! Being your own landlord! Paying for repairs or doing them yourself! Taking care of your own grounds! Installing your own pool and maintaining it! Gosh, the luxury!

** “It’s only “unfair” if the next resident for that apartment signs for $1,500. I’m willing to bet though that the market says [it’ll be] $2,100. You aren’t going to raise the rents by 50 percent if you aren’t getting them.”

** “I’ve seen increases like that. It does sound like an amortized concession ran out though. I wish we could have the whole story. But yes, that is on par for market rate here.”

** “Our job is to maintain and enhance the value of the asset. If we don’t get whatever the market will bear, we are not doing our job. Fair has nothing to do with it.”

“I’m sure it was a regular rent increase in the Seattle market. In Portland, a resident hugged me because I only gave them a 9 percent hike. It is softening here. [This] is a really tough call, especially for properties owned by investment groups. Growth is why they invest here, and there are [residents] willing to pay it, but it is hard [on property managers] every month when the rates come out. We have a fiduciary responsibility to the owners and in a hot market with not much vacancy, but a social conscience makes it tough. I get letters from elderly residents on fixed incomes pleading not to raise their rent any more. [It’s] a super-tough call on what is “fair.”

** “[There was] a 50 percent hike at a property here in Greenville, S.C., and most residents stayed because they had been paying incredibly low rent [for living in this] market for years. I managed a property in Seattle and we did a 30 percent hike one year and everyone was fine because we were catching up to the market.”

** Rent increases such as this will give merit to activists wanting rent control. And we all know rent control is not good for ANYONE."