In last week’s paper, The Stranger, had an article on how the new construction is being led by apartments not condos, The New Construction Boom:
Unlike the last boom, developers are not planning condos, but thousands of apartments. On Madison Street alone, seven large projects are making headway this year. Many developers are scrambling to turn dirt quickly, trying to catch the crest of the next construction wave before the next bust.
Local land use economist Matthew Gardner is also quoted:
“We are on the cusp right now of the largest boom market for apartments since the 1980s,” says Matthew Gardner, a land-use economist and principal of real estate analysis firm Gardner Economics. “If you are a landlord, you are looking good. And the most important thing from a developer’s perspective: There is money to borrow to build apartments. It is very unlikely we will see a condo tower break ground in the city.”
Only condo project breaking ground is the Cameo on Capitol Hill that I’m aware of.
As someone who bought two condos at the height of the bubble in 2007 this is the “best” news that we could hear. Hopefully I can increase the rents on the condo I’m renting out (it is available June 1st if anyone is looking) and once the economy starts to recover and existing new construction inventory sells out hopefully we’ll see the sale price on re-sales start to rise as inventory is constrained.
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