Seattle’s housing market is hot as ever, and tech-powered real estate brokerage Redfin predicts it will stay that way, particularly in the First Hill neighborhood just east of downtown.
First Hill sits atop a new list predicting the 10 hottest neighborhoods for home sales for the rest of 2017. Redfin makes its predictions by examining recent growth in listing page views and favorites on its site.
The neighborhood’s proximity to Amazon’s new campus and downtown, as well as the quieter vibe compared to the bustling Capitol Hill area next door helped put First Hill ahead of popular neighborhoods in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Portland, San Diego, Chicago, Washington D.C. and Boston.
“First Hill is sandwiched between the ever-popular Capitol Hill and the Yesler Terrace redevelopment, with easy access to downtown,” said Seattle Redfin agent Jessie Culbert. “With Whole Foods opening in 2018 at the Danforth apartment building, the area is becoming even more desirable. Buyers tend to like the more quiet, tree-lined streets in this neighborhood and historic mansions that hearken back to Seattle’s heritage. All we need is more inventory.”
The median sale price in the neighborhood is $425,000, well under the city-wide median prices which have climbed above $700,000. One reason for the lower prices is that sales in the neighborhood have trended toward condos, and condos tend to be cheaper than houses. The neighborhood is still quite competitive, as 73 percent of homes in First Hill sold above list price.
Other Seattle area neighborhoods have appeared atop similar lists in the past. Redfin predicted the Woodridge neighborhood in southeast Bellevue would be the second hottest spot in the nation in 2017. But looking back on its beginning of the year predictions, the neighborhood didn’t live up to the hype, earning a “cool” rating from Redfin, with home values there growing slower than the rest of the region.
Looking back at the first half of the year, no Seattle area neighborhoods landed among the top 10 hottest in the country. But that hasn’t stopped the momentum of the region as a whole, which has been the nation’s hottest housing market for months.
A lack of supply, combined with a constant crush of new people coming to town, many from the San Francisco area, have kept home prices rising quickly. As a result, Seattle now finds itself among U.S. cities with the highest concentration of $1 million neighborhoods.
This story has been updated to include more detail on the housing stock in the neighborhood.
