> People are overpaying for housing (cash offers 20% over asking)

All the rentals I looked at had fixed prices and they weren't interested in extra cash. That's also assuming you're renting from an individual and not a company. The massive apartments that are being built have fixed, though rising yearly, costs.

> property taxes have risen 35%

That increase isn't automatic and certainly isn't locked in step to the number of people moving in. Its a decision by the county.

My point is that to blame people trying to find a place to stay is ridiculous. The increase in pricing is a choice made by landlords, and is influenced by a choice made by the county.

Renter demand is insane right now, and they have the cash to back it up. I know of people renting a second place to stay, closer to work, because traffic has become so bad. I know that people are snapping up rentals as soon as they come on the market, even if that means supporting 2 leases for the rest of the month just to get what they want. Rent prices never have a chance or reason to drop.

The county's choices are a reflection of its citizens. City council has recently passed several new ordinances to make housing more 'fair', unfortunately this also has caused a significant increase in compliance cost for property managers.

My personal opinion is that zoning should be relaxed in several areas. Nevertheless Seattle price/sqft is in the range of other major US cities and still has room to rise:

https://www.rentcafe.com/blog/apartment-search-2/what-does-1...

Zoning is terrible. And height restrictions are a serious problem. The Space Needle and the Boeing airport nearby are seriously constraining building in the area. There was a massive downtown apartment tower that was (maybe still is?) going to be built that was running into big problems because it might be too tall for the airport. And in surrounding areas, the locals don't want their views spoiled so forget anything more than 3 or 4 stories. I lived in West Seattle, which had as many apartments as it could handle being built, but none above 3 or 4 stories. Its like people think that holding onto these utopic view of how Seattle should never change is somehow going to solve everything. The only way these issues will be fixed is through compromise and hard work. As it stands, I don't know how Seattle can hit a million people and still work properly.

Rental markets in Bellevue are a bit weak ATM, lots of new supply so they are offering incentives. Still more expensive than a few years ago, but we might be seeing a leak in demand-supply mismatches...on the east side at least.