Is Seattle’s scorching real estate market starting to cool?
For the last several years, Seattle has been near the top of the list of hottest real estate markets in the United States. While there’s no sign of a complete slowdown, Marc Stiles from the Puget Sound Business Journal reports that the perpetually rainy Washington metropolis is starting to slide down the ranks of most vibrant real estate markets.
With the industrial, office, and hotel markets booming, there’s only one major culprit in the market’s recent sputtering. Seattle’s residential housing has been dragging down the real estate market as a whole. Remove the residential market from the equation and Seattle is still amongst the nation’s strongest markets. Specifically, Seattle is #2 for the industrial market, #4 for office property, and #3 in the hotel space.
The most recent annual Emerging Trends report saw Seattle dip from #6 to #8, while Texas’s market continued to outperform the rest of the nation boasting Houston and Austin in the number 1 and 2 spots. San Francisco took the #3 slot, followed by Denver, Dallas, L.A. and Charlotte. East Coast cities didn’t crack the list until Boston and Raleigh Durham at spots 9 and 10.
The Emerging Trends report was compiled as a joint effort between Price Waterhouse Cooper and the Urban Land institute, a non-profit research firm. The rankings were determined using data from nearly 1,500 real estate industry experts across the nation.
“If any hesitation about investments in Seattle exists, it seems focused on the housing market,” the Emerging Trends report states. You don’t have to look far to see why the residential housing market is dragging down the rest of the region. The multi-family arena is one area of struggle with Seattle barely cracking the top 10. The single family market ranks #17 overall.
While those numbers might be cause for concern, there’s certainly no reason to panic at this stage. Experts on the region’s real estate market see Seattle as one of the most attractive locations outside of the top five blue chip markets. Seattle continues to see a regular stream of capital flowing in from outside investors and the local economy has been growing to meet investor demand.
For more information read the full article at Puget Sound Business Journal.