Some folks look at the news regarding Expo62 and the downsized Smith Tower project as reason for panic. For more on the Smith Tower updated plan, here's the Seattle Times article. In reality, developers' reduction of future supply is a textbook example of the market adjusting and balancing against demand and great news for owners/sellers (not so great for buyers in the short term). Kudos to the Intracorp and Walton Street for course correcting and thanks to Adam Smith (pictured to the left) for helping us see the forest from the trees.
Looking back at history and recent events elsewhere in the country and world, some cities aren't able to throttle supply as nimbly and end up flooding already soft markets and in extreme cases, leaving some areas littered with stationery cranes and unfinished projects. So far, it seems like Seattle developers are tapping the breaks and going after the much stronger apartment rental market. This will still impact condo prices since this will reduce rental income capacity but much preferable to adding new condo inventory.
