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Breaking Down What’s Behind Record-Breaking King County Apartment Sales, Velocity
Lee & Associates’ Northwest Multifamily team issued its Spring 2020 Multifamily Investment Review this week, which delivers an analysis of the record-breaking King County apartment sales and velocity of 2019. The discussion included key economic trends, an overview of rental demand trends, a briefing on apartment development supply, and key legislative and property management developments.
Lee & Associates’ Candice Chevaillier, CCIM, shared a few insights with Connect Media from the report. They included:
• Sales volume experienced a hockey stick effect at the end of 2019, with sales volume up 72% from the first to the second half of the year.
• Vacancy rates are expected to rise from an average of 3.5% to closer to 4.5% through the end of the year. 2020 is the last year of major new unit delivery. Then, unit deliveries slow in 2021, paving the way for rent growth.
• Changing of the guard: Landlords are under incredible pressure to keep up with constantly changing state and city legislation. Many smaller operators are choosing to cash out.
• The apartment market may be in the clear with regard to some sort of statewide rent control for this legislative session, however that initiative will likely be back in next year’s session.
• Investors are intensely focused on chasing yield. They are going outside the city of Seattle to find it, including the South-end, Tacoma and the Eastside.
For comments, questions or concerns, please contact Dennis Kaiser
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