Market Update by Neighborhood
The metropolitan region comprising the city of Seattle, the Eastside, Snohomish and Pierce counties, led the nation in home price growth for the entire year.
Belltown and Downtown combined are, in multiple ways, unlike any other area of Seattle or the broader Puget Sound region. Firstly, the area is completely urbanized: there is no single-family housing left downtown. Secondly, this area is ground zero for the widely-discussed "Condominium Conundrum" in Seattle, where nearly all multifamily construction in recent years has been allocated for apartments. As a result, the number of downtown sales is historically low amidst the greatest run-up in home prices in the city's history.
This area comprises a diverse patchwork of both affluent and middle-income neighborhoods northeast of downtown. Some, including Madison Park, Denny Blaine, and Leschi, offer frontage on Lake Washington; but Capitol Hill and Madison Valley are also included. There were $998 million in single-family home sales in Central Seattle in 2017, at a median selling price of $877,000−13.2 percent higher than the 2016 annual median price of $775,000.
In 2017, the median single-family home price of $946,000 in Queen Anne and Magnolia, highest among all eight areas of Seattle, was just 5.8 percent greater than the 2016 median price of $894,100. Due to comparatively few annual sales in these desirable neighborhoods (772 in 2017), selling volume was $846.2 million—least among the city’s affluent northern areas.
There were $1.72 billion in single-family home sales in the Ballard and Green Lake area of Seattle, at a median selling price of $750,000. This was 13.6 percent higher than the 2016 annual median price of $659,950, just short of advancing home prices in neighboring North Seattle.
In 2017, the number of single-family home sales in West Seattle was exactly one more than in 2016, respectively 1,671 to 1,670. Note that some variance will be found among our West Seattle statistics and those obtained directly from the NWMLS.
Single-family home selling volume reached $1.04 billion in North Seattle, at a median selling price of $776,000, 14.1 percent higher than the 2016 annual median price of $680,000.
In 2017, the number of first-quarter single-family home sales in Southeast Seattle was up by 70 percent year over year (163 in 2017 Q1 vs 96 in 2016 Q1, a lackluster quarter). Sales had smoothed out by the end of 2017, which ended with 13.2 percent more sales than 2016 (762 to 673).
Who's Employing in Seattle?
When we talk about the Seattle market, we talk about who's moving here. And when we talk about who's moving here, we ask who's bringing them here. Here are the top employers in Seattle, bringing in nearly 1,000 people per week. If you want to skip the long commute, take a look at this map to see where you would want to live in the city.
See a full list here.
2017 BEST Seattle-Metro School Districts
See a full list here.