Real Estate
NWMLS 2007 Condo Highlights
The NWMLS just released its Brokers Report on 2007 home sales. Here are some highlights pertaining to condos: The NWMLS reported $32.3 billion in total home sales in its 19 county territory. Just about one-half of that dollar volume, $16.5 billion, was realized in King County. And, of the $16.5 billion, $13.4 billion were single…
New Look for Heron / Pagoda Towers
There’s a new look for the Heron/Pagoda project at 5th Avenue between Virginia and Stewart Streets in downtown. The most current renderings indicate a twin-tower design, which interestingly enough, will be directly across from the Westin Hotel’s twin-towers. Between the Westin & Escala (foreground) Note: A 2nd design guidance meeting has been scheduled for this…
Forte Condominiums – Pinehurst
The Forte Condominiums (website) is currently celebrating its grand opening in the Pinehurst neighborhood located in North Seattle. Forte, a 4-story conversion, features 48 one-bedroom and two-bedroom homes that range in size from 564 sq ft to 1,400 sq ft for the penthouse suites. All homes surround a large light-filled central courtyard. Currently, one-bedrooms start…
Project Happenings
The Maris – revamped its website and opened its sales office, but only on the weekends (Friday – Sunday, 12-6 pm). Homes start at $419,000. Noma – has an interesting promotion going on through Feb 29th. For buyers using the preferred lender, Noma will (1) match any price decrease (%-based) and pay float down on…
Seattle Condo Performance & Appreciation for 2007
As a follow-up to the December Market Update post I’ve included charts comparing the monthly median condo price of various neighborhoods for 2006 and 2007 by MLS area. I also calculated the annual median price appreciation rate based on closed sales for 2007. For the year, Downtown, Capitol Hill and West Seattle underperformed with single-digit…
Expo62 Bites the Dust
It had been rumored for the past few months that Expo62, a new condominium project under construction in Lower Queen Anne, was going to be converted to apartments. Now, it seems to have come true. According to fellow Realtor, James Stroupe, who reserved a unit in Expo62, the building was sold to an out-of-state buyer.…
Understanding a Building’s Envelope
Farren West is the owner of Key Inspection Services and is a contributor to the Seattle Condo Blog. Farren can be contacted at KeyInspectionServices.com. One can think of a building envelope as being similar to envelopes used to mail packages through the postal service. A standard package mailing envelope is used to protect the interior…
Smith Tower Conversion Scaled Back
The Seattle Times reported today that Smith Tower’s owner, Walton Street Capital, has amended plans to convert the venerable landmark. The new proposal calls for converting the top 12 floors to condominiums with one unit per floor, roughly about 2,000 square feet each. Read the full article at the SeattleTimes.com: Smith Tower condos: Only the…
Seattle Condo Market Update – December 2007
The Seattle condo market saw a modest 2.7% increase in the median price in December, rising to $320,000, compared to the prior year. As expected during the close of the year, the number of active listings, pending sales and closed transactions fell last month. There were only 174 pending transactions in December, the fewest over…
