Seattle Shifts To Less Than 50% Single Family Detatched Houses

Seattle is known as a city of neighborhoods and houses. The last census, however, shows that sometime in the 1990s single-family detached houses slipped to less than 50% of all dwelling units in the city. Construction since then has shifted the balance even more toward multi-family dwellings. Nevertheless, nearly 70% of all Seattle dwellings are still in buildings with fewer than 10 units.

Residential structures by units per building

Data derived from 2000 U.S. Census

Seattle is also a Twentieth Century city. Only about 1500 of the city’s 130,000 houses were built before 1900.

Seattle houses by period built

Data derived from King County Assessor’s records

In spite of the fact that the sold price for single family homes went down by 18% over the past 15 months, Seattle real estate is not cheap. The average sales price of a single family home is $480,000 and the median sales price is $396,000.

Fortunately, over the past 30 years the supply of owner-occupied housing has been steadily increased by the addition of condominium homes. While the lifestyle is very different, condominiums are less expensive than houses: the average sale price this year is $300,000 and the median is $269,000.

Seattle’s topography divides the city into natural neighborhoods with their own distinctive characters. Most neighborhoods offer a wide range of housing styles and prices, and the choices available to a purchaser are immense. Neighborhood Information is available to help you identify where in the city you might wish to locate. You will also find information on the styles of houses in Seattle and on current market conditions.

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