Condos Booming All The Way To Olympia?
Okay maybe booming is too strong of a word. Blossoming may even be too strong of a word. Whatever word you choose, demand for condos in Thurston County is apparently on the rise.
Demand for condominiums is growing in Thurston County, but several proposals to build more have yet to get off the drawing board."There's a need..." I think this gentleman must be using some meaning of the word "need" that I'm not familiar with.
After years of dormancy, the condo market is taking off, driven by early retirees who want a break from home maintenance and singles who want a price break compared with single-family homes, real estate agents say.
...
"There's definitely a need for more upper-end condos," [Realtor Spence] Weigand said. "There are a lot of people tired of the taxes and the maintenance of their property, but they can't give up their views."
South Sound's condo market is still small compared with the large, booming market in Seattle. More than 1,600 Seattle condos are on the market, compared with 51 in Thurston County, according to the Northwest MLS.
(Jim Szymanski, The Olympian, 08.13.2006)
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6 comments:
Remember the Project in Renton...
Right next to the Boeing 737 plant. There in the works 800-1000 condos there currently just breaking ground and probably coming on line in the next year. Just in time for the market to really feel the downdraft..historically condo's take it in the chin in real-estate downturns. Maybe the Renton Condo project will get knocked out.
Just seems at this point in the market placing approximatly a 1000 condos on the market in Renton is pretty risky.
After years of dormancy, the condo market is taking off, driven by early retirees who want a break from home maintenance and singles who want a price break compared with single-family homes, real estate agents say.
Well... if real estate agents said it, that's good enough for us at the Seattle Bubble. Gosh who'd a thunk it? Imagine all the early retirees rushing down to Olympia to snap up condos at a premium price. Probably hordes of rich people retiring early, what with the massive savings rate in this country. And what better place to retire than Olympia?
Condo construction may be booming, but that doesn't mean that sales will be booming in the near future. Consider the inventory that will be created in Seattle by the completion of the following projects:
1521
2nd and John
3901
500 Elliott
5th and Madison
5th and Marion
8th and Stewart
Arboretum View
Asia
Bagley Lofts
Belmont Mansion
Biscayne
Bolero
Braeburn
Brix
Canal
Cosmo
Domaine
Dwell
Eastlake Lofts
Elliott and Battery
Enso
Epic
Escala
Fifth Avenue North
Florera
Four Seasons
Francis Fremont
Harvard and Highland
Harwood
Hjarta
Lumen
Madison Tower
Magnuson Pointe
Maison
Meritage
Mezzo
Mosler Lofts
Noma
North Lofts
Olive 8
Onyx
Plaza Del Sol
Queen Anne High
Rollin Street
Second and Pine
Site 17
Taylor Anne
The Martin
The Morgan
The Parc
Three19
Toscan
Trace Lofts
Trio
Urban Terrace
Veer
Welch Plaza
Condo construction may be booming, but that doesn't mean that sales will be booming in the near future.
Hard to say if all those ones being built will get sold. But one thing is for sure, condos are a red hot right now. In July condos saw 22% YOY appreciation in King County.
there you go again, man. i can't believe you just pulled that little stat out of your mls @$$. did you see the size of that list? did you meshugy? got you all scared, huh? anyways, i can speak for one of those condos, peckhammer. the epic condos in first hill (i think they're on 11th and jefferson) looks like they're a real winner. these used to be apartments taken up by a bunch of seattle university students (which is just across the street). i remember driving by on the way to work and i saw all these signs and flags on the building advertising "new homes...coming soon" and all that crap. i was surprised because i knew a couple friends who used to live in them when they were the "jefferson apartments." anyways, this was back in july and they had all these flags on the back of the building. i thought they were going over the top with their independence day decor. i just drove by the other day and still noticed all the flags on the back of the building. inside i was like, "damn, still have your july 4th stuff up?" as i looked closer, EACH ONE of the flags is a "FOR SALE" sign. damn! almost 3/4 of the units have them. this has been for AT LEAST the past month and a half. i've seen many, many condo projects going up around town. i also saw many, many condo projects around mill creek and south everett. red hot? let's see how many old farts will buy these places up. when that market runs out, let's see how many college kids group together and get mommy and daddy's help to get their spot. then after that, all the mexicans and asians grouping together to squeeze in 15 in a 2BR/2BA. and then...who else? you think peck's list covers all these guys? that's not even a complete list. there's a lot more!
Statistics on condo appreciation rates can be found at the following url, which I sourced from the Seattle Times (NWSource) classifieds. The statisics themselves have been compliled by MLS so I assume they are accurate.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/homevalues/appreciation/kingcounty_condo.html
Note that they varry from about 1% to mid twenties. Location Location Location
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