Queen Anne High is offering a buyer’s bonus:
For a limited-time, Queen Anne High School is offering a $5,000 BUYER BONUS on all homes under $400,000*!
Ah the benefits of a slowing making market. The Seattle Times has a couple AP articles on this trend, Glut of unsold houses likely to bring more cuts in prices and Incentives to lure buyers prop up prices
Popularity: 8% [?]
10 responses so far ↓
1 Matthew // Oct 31, 2006 at 2:10 pm
Keep waiting, it’s only going to get better!
2 Dan Ji // Nov 1, 2006 at 12:45 am
Do you (readers or you, Matt) think this is due to the particulars of this condo, or a developing trend in the Seattle market? I’m somewhat unclear as to what to make of the latest “Fat Report”… there seems to be a VERY slow rate of sale for a lot of condo properties, but in some other marquee properties, there looks to be high demand.
3 Matthew // Nov 1, 2006 at 1:56 pm
Dan,
I too am a reader of the FATREPORT and the glut of condos right now definately appear to indicate some market cooling…
That being said, I think that the Queen Anne project has some difficulties… It appears that it has a few number of high value units but that the majority of the units are unusual and not appealing to many.
That being said, I think that this market is in serious risk of being overdeveloped. How many $400,000 condo buyers are out there? I think that the majority of people willing to spend that kind of money have already bought into the market. Couple that with increased inventory across the region and I think I am going to hold off on buying right now and see where the market goes. I have a feeling that better deals are going to be coming in the future….
4 jo // Nov 1, 2006 at 4:59 pm
I went and saw the Queen Anne apts, there really wasn’t anything that drew my interest. It was also a mistake starting to sell the units with many of them not complete IMO.
There are still a lot of buyers out there. Look at Moda, it sold out in a week.
5 Matthew // Nov 2, 2006 at 11:11 am
Moda is a perfect example that proves my point. People can’t afford a decent condo but they can afford a 300 sq ft dorm room. There are not enough buyers at the 400,000 dollar mark and above to sustain current prices. There are plenty of buyers just below that mark. Modo is a perfect example. The problem is going to be that when the expensive condos are overbuilt and start coming back to Modo type prices, and you are stuck with a crappy 300 sq ft. dorm room you overpaid for.
Read the FATREPORT and then tell me if you think there are still “plenty of buyers” out there. It looks pretty obvious that the condo market is slowing at a dramatic pace.
6 jo // Nov 2, 2006 at 3:07 pm
here’s the fat report…very cool stuff
http://www.fatreport.com/activefat.pdf
domaine looks to be hurting
7 jo // Nov 2, 2006 at 3:09 pm
trio is the worst i think….
been selling since 12/05, and have sold 26 out of 115 units
OUCH
8 Dan Ji // Nov 2, 2006 at 4:52 pm
There does seem to be a good amount of inventory - with little movement… what confused me was the (still) rapid sales of the marquee project - Olive 8, Cosmopolitan & 1521. I can understand that places like the Four Seasons may experience some sort of slowing - but I don’t know what to make of these “lower high-end” condos.
As far as Moda goes, from what I understand, the most popular models weren’t the tiny (sub 400 sq ft) studios - it was the ‘normal sized’ 1br & 2 br units.
My early thoughts are that there is a definite wait & see approach from the buyer crowd, but with people ready to jump on a quote-unquote good property.
9 Dan Ji // Nov 2, 2006 at 4:54 pm
I forgot to add - maybe we’ll start to see those “coming soon!” signs taken off from vacant lots? I can see a few of the upcoming projects losing funding…
10 Matthew // Nov 2, 2006 at 7:47 pm
With so much proposed building going on downtown in the next 3 years, I honestly don’t see how they can stop from overbuilding. It is in builders nature to build as rapidly as possible to exploit a hot market, and when the market starts to soften they almost always continue to build until it’s too late. We shall see how it all plays out, but 2007-2008 should be a very telling year indeed.
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