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The Daily Journal Of Commerce Turns To Dean Jones For Insight On Downtown Seattle Condos

By Amanda Lybeck |

Dean Jones, President & CEO of Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty (RSIR) offers insight in the latest Real Estate Buzz entitled “Condo demand rising faster than supply,” as the Daily Journal of Commerce says that the rate of demand for condos in downtown Seattle is much higher than available supply.

Given that half of Luma’s new condos have already sold, Nat Levy dug in to see “how some other prominent condo projects here are doing” by outlining progress at Insignia, Gridiron and the Vik. As the article reads, “Dean Jones, principal and owner of Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty, said condo construction finally is starting to reach the level of what we saw in the last development cycle” as he estimates that between 2015 and 2020 the city could see “as many as 3,248 new condos,” though nothing is certain.

Regardless of number, Jones tells Levy that there will be high demand for these condos as many apartments are incubating would-be buyers with lucrative incomes. The main problem Jones foresees is that “with high-rise development . . . demand can rise much quicker than the supply.” The reason for the discrepancy, as Jones highlights, is that “it takes years to build a high-rise condo, and Seattle’s market took off so fast that it’s been tough for builders to keep up.”

Jones has been following condo trends in downtown Seattle for years, most recently covering downtown Seattle’s preeminent appreciation when compared to the top 100 global cities. As Jones outlined in March, downtown Seattle’s property values increased by over 30% year-over-year in a 2014 and 2015 comparison. RSIR predicted the condo comeback in June of 2015 when they released research and a special insert in the Puget Sound Business Journal called the Manhattanization of Seattle” found here >>