Wendy Leung's Seattle Condo Blog

Viaduct and Seattle Condos

As I was driving South on 99 to the Stadium, it was great to see some progress with the Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement project. The south end of the Viaduct had been demolished and the traffic has been shifted onto a new bridge near the stadiums. After more than 10 years of discussion, planning, design and prepping work, we can expect the deep bore tunnel work to begin next year. Yes, finally. With the removal of the Viaduct along the waterfront, which is estimated around 2016, I had to wonder which condos would benefit from it.

Well, I think a few of them like Belltown Court, Belltown Lofts, Pomeroy, Site 17, Fix Building, HillClimb, and Our Home Hotel condo will be better off. Let's take a closer look on why that's the case.

Olive 8 Closed 148th sale and Reducing HOA Dues By 15%

Olive 8 is 65% sold as of this press release. Since readjusting their prices over the new year, they are averaging 4.5 sales/month bring it to a total of 148 sales. The developer has also announced that the HOA dues will drop by 15% (from $0.54 per foot per month to $0.47 per foot per month). According to the developer, the reason for that is due to the building's operational efficiencies shared by the hotel and from lower utility consumption within the LEED Silver Certified building.

It's rather unusual for such a new building to have the HOA dues reduced within the first few years of completion. Generally, for new condos, the dues typically stay around the same or go up (within the first couple of years) by a few percent, sometime as high as 10% to reach a realistic budget. I guess this a good news for homeowners and buyers. I'm curious to see how that will hold up for the next two years.

 

Related posts:

Olive 8's Video and New Reset Pricing
Olive 8's New Pricing 
Olive 8 Auction Results
Olive 8 & 5th and Madison Update
Olive 8 going Auction

Cosmopolitan's Views Under Attack (again)?

Looks like the Cosmopolitan, which suffered from a loss of views by a taller project a couple of years ago, may be affected yet again by another construction project.  The Department of Planning and Development recently approved a proposed 400 foot tower in the Denny Triangle. The new project, designed by Weber Thompson will be on the corner of Lenora St and 8th Ave (2030 8th Ave). The current site is a two story commercial building while the proposed new structure calls for a 39 story high rise with 350 apartment units. Read more here.

There are several high rise condos located within a two blocks radius of the new project: Cosmopolitan, 2200 Westlake and Enso. If the giant building goes up, it will probably have the biggest impact on Cosmopolitan.  A couple of years ago, soon after Cosmopolitan was built, it had an office project going up on its western side. The plan initially called for a lower building (13 stories) with smaller impact on the Cosmo but the plan was later on revised to go much higher (33 stories). After the completion of that project, the new height affected Cosmopolitan residences living on the higher western floors.  

This latest new proposed project is probably something Cosmo residences won't be looking forward to either.  According to the spoke person representing the new project's owners, there is no plan to start construction yet. The building permit is good for 6 years. So, we might not see this new building coming up for a while (or at all) but it's worth keeping an eye on.

Related posts:

Cosmopolitan View
Cosmopolitan
2200 Westlake
Enso Update

Million Dollar Condos in Seattle Reach 2007 Prices

I was curious how much of a hit the >$1M condo market in Belltown and Downtown (98121 & 98101) have taken since the peak in 2008.  Below are some charts and some observations.

• The average price per square foot on >$1M condos has fallen below 2007 levels (10% below 2010).  
• The average price sold so far this year is still above 2007 levels (buyers are getting a lot more for their >$1M money).
• Total sales of >$1M condos in 2011 will likely be lower than 2007 and less than half the 2009 peak.
• The most expensive condo sold was in 2008 at Four Seasons (#1703) and it sold for $11,386,525.

                      

Seattle Apartment Buildings Continue Circle of Life

As the demolition work at the McGuire Apartment is pressing on layer by layer, a couple of new buildings are emerging in Belltown and the circle of life continues.  Note these are not condos but rather apartments (my blog must go on).

One of them is located right across the street south of Mosler Lofts called Altos (2612 3rd Ave). Not so good news for Mosler owners who live on the south side of the building as most of their views will be blocked by this taller building. Altos is a 17-story, 184 unit building with an estimated completion date of Spring 2012. It looks like a nice building; perhaps, it would be a nice condo conversion towards the end of the decade?

Another apartment project will be built on 6th Ave between Lenora and Blanchard. Construction is already underway for this 654 unit luxury apartment complex which is comprised of two 24-story towers with retail space. This project is expected to complete in 2013. Read more on Sixth and Lenora Apartments.

According to Dupre and Scott Aparment Advisors' forecast model last year, rents will climb 2.3% in 2011. They expect rents to rise to 4.6% in 2012 and 5.1% in 2013. If all of this come true, it will be nice timing for Altos and Sixth and Lenora Apartments to enter the market.

I looked into some condo rentals on the MLS and landlords have a much better time renting out their condos these days than three years ago. The average days on market for condos in Belltown and downtown is 55 days as oppose to 91 days three years ago this same period.  Hope everyone's enjoying 2011, it's the year of the rental units :-)

Related posts:

2010 Seattle Condo Market in Review
McGuire Building to be demolished
For the Data Junkies: Dupre and Scott Apartment Investor Report
Conversion and Rental Market Report
Seattle Rental Market

 

Almost Half of Queen Anne Condos Sold were Bank Owned or Short Sale

Back in April, I put together some charts on bank owned and short sale properties in Seattle looking at how long it takes to close on these types of properties.

This time we are going to look at which neighborhoods have the most bank owned and short sale inventory and sales. Active listing data is from the first day of August 2011.  Sold data is based on the last 6 months (2/11-7/11). Co-op's are removed from all these areas. So, we will be looking at purely condos.

Some highlights:

• While Belltown may have the image of the epicenter of the condo bubble, almost half of all Queen Anne condo sales were either bank owned or short sales compared to 1/4 for Capitol Hill and 1/5 for Belltown/Downtown.
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• Of today's active listings, Capitol Hill takes the prize with 23% of short sales compared to 20% and 11% for Queen Anne and Belltown/Downtown, respectively. 
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• For those of you sensitive to what you can get for your money, the average price per square foot sold for short sale condos in Queen Anne and Capitol Hill is $258.11 and $304.31, respectively. As for Belltown/Downtown, they are going for $368.88/square foot.
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• Queen Anne has the highest number of bank owned condos sold (in fairness, 1/3 of them are from 200 W Highland project). 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Downtown Seattle Condos: One Pacific Tower

One Pacific Tower is a pretty striking condo built in 1994 and only one block away from Pike Place Market. Unlike most condos that were built parallel to the street, One Pacific Tower was built twisted at an angle, a design carefully thought out by the architect firm, Curtis Beattie & Associates.  The purpose is to optimize as many views as it could get for all their units. Rising at 27 stories, there were orginially 80 homes in this building, however, several units were combined into larger homes, reducing the total to 75 units.

Since all the homes face west or southwest, they are able to get a good view of the Mount Rainier, Elliott Bay and the city through the walls of windows, especially for the 2 and 3 bedroom floor plans.  

The lobby is currently going through some remodeling work, which will be a nice improvement for this building. One thing good about One Pacific Tower is that it has twenty-four hour concierge service.  There are some other nice amenities like an indoor pool, hot tub, and outdoor terrace. There is also a club room, although it's a little dated and the gym is a bit small. Other than that, it's a pleasant building, well maintained, and it's in one of the most desirable locations in Belltown/Downtown. 

7 Studios 452-534
16 One bedroom 419-976
39 Two bedroom 1,523-2,391 (01 floor plan 1,523 sqft.
12 Three bedroom
1 Five bedroom

Condos around One Pacific Tower:

Continental Place 
Escala: Cristalla's biggest competition?
Market Place Tower 

Downtown Seattle Condo Blog Update

Well, we are nearing the end of the first quarter, if you are wondering what is going on with Escala and Olive 8, here is a quick update.

Sales have been pretty consistent at Escala. Ever since the new sales team took over the project a year ago with some realistic price reductions, they have closed about 80 homes with an additional 15 pending for closing. Not bad for a year's effort.

What's interesting is that during my last tour, I had the chance to revisit their E floor plan. This home is facing west with really nice city and water views but it has a huge supporting column with a double sided fireplace in the middle of the living room. The sales team came up with a way to reduce the size of the column. What an improvement! The living space is more open and gives you better views. I thought that was a great idea giving buyer that option to reduce the column size. Check out the before and after pics below. 

Escala E floor plan before
Escala E floor plan after
(The drawings are for illustrative purposes only.) 

 E plans start at $1,089,000 on the east side of the building and $1,249,000 on the west side.

 

 

Olive 8 announced  they have closed 17 sales since the new year.  They have also launched their spring event offering special financing from 1.5% (for a conforming 5 year ARMs, 2.8% APR). In addition, the developer will be covering the closing costs and credit the first year's home-owner dues and health-club membership fees if the purchase closes before May 31st.

Related posts:

Escala's New Pricing
Escala Scaling Prices Soon
Escala Update Dec 2009
Escala Hard Hat Tour 
Escala Update
Escala Update February 2007
Escala priority presale event
Escala: Cristalla's biggest competition

Olive 8 Reset Pricing?
Olive 8's Video & Reset Pricing
Olive 8's New Pricing 
Olive 8 Auction Results
Olive 8 & 5th and Madison Update
Olive 8 going Auction

Olive 8 Reset Pricing?

There has been some discussion among buyers and realtors on the recent Olive 8's reset pricing.   When the video were announced two weeks ago, many were anticipating that the new pricing will be close to the auction prices.  So, I decided to look up the numbers and make some comparisons on the reset prices versus the pre-auction closed homes and auction closed home.  Here is a sample on the homes that I used for comparison:

As you can see, the reset pricing is between 13-23% lower than the previous listing prices but are still considerably higher than auction prices.  If we look at the reset pricing versus the pre-auction closed homes, the prices are about the same if not slightly lower.

Related posts:

Olive 8's Video & Reset Pricing
Olive 8's New Pricing 
Olive 8 Auction Results
Olive 8 & 5th and Madison Update
Olive 8 going Auction

2010 Seattle Condo Market in Review

The Seattle condo market has definitely gone through a lot in the last few years.  Looking at 2010 as a whole, it did not preform as well as 2009 but it wasn't too far behind.

During the first 6 months of 2010, we saw a higher number of closed sales compared to first half of 2009.  This may have been due to the extension of the tax credit from October 2009 to April 30, 2010 which gave the market a boost in activity.  In addition to the original $8,000 first time home buyers' credit, a $6,500 tax credit was passed for repeat buyers as well.  Buyers had to be under contract by end of April, 2010 and closed by June 30 (the closing date was later extended to September 30, 2010) in order to qualify for this tax credit.

The strongest month was April; probably due to many buyers trying to meet the tax credit deadline closing date.  

Olive 8's Video & New Reset Pricing

Olive 8 announced reset pricing for their remaining homes.  According to their latest email, the reset pricing is 15-25% off the most recent list price and 30-40% off presale pricing.  More than 10 new sales have occurred in the past week.  

The website recently posted a video  hosted by Tom Kelly, a nationally syndicated real estate columnist and author discussing about the reset of Olive 8 and the downtown condo market.

The video pointed out that we are not going to see a new condo coming up in Downtown over the the next few years and Olive 8 represents 25% of the new inventory for all condominiums in downtown Seattle.  I agree that Olive 8 is one of the few newer projects available in downtown Seattle.  We have in fact seen several new condos in the city selling most of their inventory like Enso, Gallery, Marselle and 1521 and the condo market has lost some projects which were converted to apartments (it wasn't that long ago when all the apartments were planning to convert to condos!).

No new condos pouring into the market is a good news for sellers.  On the other hand, buyers have definitely taken their time coming back and bank lending remains pretty tight in general.  We should also keep in mind the new wave of apartments coming onto the market.  This will have an impact on the first-time buyer condo market who will have lots of apartments competing for their business as well as investor condos who will need to offer more competitive rents. That's just my take.  Any thoughts?

Related posts:

Olive 8's New Pricing 
Olive 8 Auction Results
Olive 8 & 5th and Madison Update
Olive 8 going Auction

Olive 8 and Fifth & Madison Update

The Seattle Times covered the Olive 8 auction last weekend.  According to  David Thyer, president of developer R.C. Hedreen,  all but 4 homes (out of the 32 auction homes) were accepted by the seller last Sunday.  

"Before Sunday, Olive 8 closed deals for 74 of its 227 units, mostly on the building's lower portion between floors 18 and 26.  The 32 units auctioned off Sunday represent nearly all of the unsold inventory on that lower portion, so "we'll no longer have prospective buyers going through those floors," Thyer said last week.  Olive 8 still has a little more than 100 unsold units on the top floors, with price tags from $500,000 to $6.9 million."

This made me wonder if all the Fifth and Madison auctioned homes actually reached the closing table.  I managed to pull some information and put together this updated sheet.  Out of the 16 auction homes, 13 closed within 60 days.  The three homes (#1102, #1200 & #1805) that went back on the market after the auction were subsequently closed within the next five months (presumably, not to bidders).  Out of the 13 homes  that closed within 60 days, a few of them were sold at a higher price.  They are #1803, #2200, and #2202.  The average closed price is still about 66% of the original listing price.  So, in Fifth and Madison's case, they managed to close ~81% of their auction homes, not a bad way to unload a big chunk of unsold inventory in a day.  

Related posts: 

Seattle Condo Auction Roundup
Seattle Condo Auctions: Equivalent of the Nordstrom Anniversary Sales?
5th and Madison and Trace Lofts Update
Queen Anne Auction- By the numbers
Lumen Auction Results
Brix and Gallery Auction Results
Press Auction: Going once, Going twice, Gone!

 -Wendy 

Seattle Condo Projects Update

 

Fifteen Twenty-One has reached their 100th closing with more scheduled and several new sales pending.   More homes over $1M have closed in Fifteen Twenty-One Second Avenue than any other new construction community in downtown Seattle combined during past development cycle. They have also launched a new testimonial campaign online with 18 residents and merchants from Pike Place Market.

 

The Decatur on First Hill is now 70% sold and was recently featured in NHSMC "Fresh Ideas" Tour.  Financing for the home is now available from 2.25% with no closing costs. 

Eleven Eleven East Pike has 10 homes remaining (27 homes in total) and is having their new closeout pricing from $239,950.   Their new model home is now open.

   
Hjarta condominiums is now 50% sold.  The new model homes are now open and the building is FHA financing approved (3.5% down payment options).

 

Related posts:

Fifteen Twenty-One Opening Ceremony
Bulk Buy Update
Eleven Eleven East Pike
Hjarta & Florence Condos Reintroduced through Bulk Sales

-Wendy 

Olive 8 Auction Results

Olive 8's auction event was this afternoon.  Thirty two homes were auctioned off by Kennedy Wilson.  They initially had thirty-four homes for auction but two of them, #1902 and #2102 were removed from the list.  The homes were sold for an average of 66% of the previous listing price, which is very close to the average of the last few auctions (Queen Anne High School, Lumen, Brix, Gallery, and 5th and Madison) since 2009 at 67%.  The average price per square sold for the auction was $450.78.  This is by far the highest average price per square foot sold for all auction events. 

Olive 8 Auction Results

Here are some highlights of the event:

1.) One bedroom's were sold for an average $462.69/sq.ft. and the average winning bids were at 68% of the previous listing price.  Two bedroom's were sold for an average of $415.06/sq.ft and the average winning bids were at 60% of the previous listing price. 

 2.) One of the largest two bedroom homes sold for $625,000, 54% of the previous listing price.

3.) The lowest price one bedroom was sold for $297,000 (650 sq.ft.).  One couple won the bid for a two bedrooms, two bathrooms for $702,000 (1,586 sq.ft.).  It was the highest bid for the two bedroom homes but they were very pleased with the price.  It's going to be their 2nd home.  

Each home has an unpublished reserve price, which means that the seller has set a minimum selling price.  In the event the winning bid was lower than the reserve price, the winning bid is subject to acceptance by the seller.  It would be interesting to see how many of these homes will make it to closing.  

Related posts:

Seattle Condo Auction Roundup
Seattle Condo Auctions: Equivalent of the Nordstrom Anniversary Sales?
5th and Madison and Trace Lofts Update 
Queen Anne Auction- By the numbers
Lumen Auction Results
Brix and Gallery Auction Results
Press Auction: Going once, Going twice, Gone!

 -Wendy

 

Escala Update

I was having dinner downtown the other day and came across one of Escala's sign boards.  I couldn't help but notice the catchy tagline "More Than A Price Reduction."  I'm sure some buyers would like the sound of that.  So far, the project has 76 sales of which 48 have closed. Even though they have only sold around 30%, according to the Escala sales folks, they have outsold all other condos in Belltown and downtown. The sales center has averaged 10-12 sales/month since the new marketing team took over in March of this year.  The condo will support FHA-approved loans once they reach the threshold of 81 sold homes. 

One bedroom's start at $384,000 and two bedroom's start at $699,000.

-Wendy