It's fascinating how much goes into the pricing. It's all based on quite a few variables, ranging from availability (like you mention), competing communities in the area, lease end date optimizations (I don't want >X leases expiring in one month, since that's a lot of work for my leasing staff), time of year, and price history. And on top of this, prices can change daily.
I've had the chance to work on a revenue management product myself--and I can safely say that it's changed my perspective as a renter. There's a lot that can go into the pricing.
However, demand, which is usually a variable in the pricing equations, will definitely be generated by the lead tracking the community does, which can include: # of incoming phone calls, # of walk-ins, # of incoming emails.
tl;dr: Clicking on the ads won't do anything. Taking action and reaching out to the community can do something. And a lead is usually tracked on a unique user basis--so one person calling 50 times vs. 50 people calling once is vastly different.
I spent a while trying to work out whether these prices were weekly or monthly. The only clue is a single reference in the article:
> 500+ more dollars per month for the exact same apartment anywhere in North Seattle
So I'm guessing these are all monthly figures.
Biggest determinant is supply of a particular unit size, though. If there's five one-bedrooms available in a yield-managed complex, you're getting a better deal relative to the building than if there's only one one-bedroom remaining - sometimes to the tune of hundreds of dollars a month.