Posts in Local Economy
The Puget Sound Real Estate Market is Finally Moving to a Balance

After seemingly endless months of a frenzied real estate market in the Puget Sound region in which buyers faced anemic supply and highly competitive bidding wars, the latest Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS) press release reports that we are “finally returning” to a more balanced market, as “buyers welcome more choices, moderating prices.”

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Facebook Investing $7.5 Million in SODO Office Space

Facebook will soon be expanding its foot print in SODO, this according to a recent article published by the Puget Sound Business Journal, which indicates that the social media titan is investing $7.5 million into office space renovations at the Home Plate Center building. After initially indicating that they would lease a full floor at the office tower earlier this year, permits filed with the city of Seattle show that “Oculus” (the virtual reality arm of Facebook) has leased over 62,000 square feet.

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Do You Know the Fastest Growing Neighborhoods in Our Region?

Home to Amazon’s Seattle campus and explosive growth over the past few years, many will be unsurprised to hear that the fastest-growing neighborhood in the region is South Lake Union. The second neighborhood, however, may come as a surprise. To get there, you have to travel to the Eastside…

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Washington Ranked Second Best State for U.S. Business in 2018

Every year, CNBC ranks all 50 states to determine those that are the top destinations for businesses, using “more than 60 measures of competitiveness, developed with input from a broad and diverse array of business and policy experts, official government sources, the CNBC Global CFO Council, YPO and the states themselves.” In order to achieve balanced results, points are awarded to states from ten overarching categories and are weighted depending on how frequently they are used as selling points for economic development.

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WeWork Adds to Seattle Presence with Two New Leases

WeWork, an international co-working space provider, is greatly adding to its Emerald City footprint, as a recent report by Colliers International reveals that WeWork signed the two largest leases in Seattle in the second quarter of 2018, securing 120,000 square feet of office space at Metropolitan Park East, and an additional 115,000 at 1201 3rd Avenue. Seattle ranked tenth on the list of the nation’s top office markets, but its performance is quite stellar given the strength of WeWork and e-commerce giant Amazon.

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Google Continues to Cement its Presence in South Lake Union’s Tech Hub

Exciting news came from Google on August 14th, as Puget Sound Business Journal broke the story that the search engine giant is working with Vulcan Inc. to build a fifth office building for the company in the fast-growing South Lake Union neighborhood where it already has four in construction. The new building will stand 12 stories tall and complement the “Lakefront Blocks,” which will top 607,000 square feet of office space with apartments for rent.

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The Counselors of Real Estate® Outline Real Estate Trends for 2018-2019

In a recent special external affairs report, The Counselors of Real Estate® highlighted the Top Ten Issues Affecting Real Estate™ for 2018 – 2019, with a look at five short-term trends and five long-term items the industry should be looking at in the coming months and years. Below, you’ll find an outline of the five most pertinent issues impacting real estate now.

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Seattle Tops the U.S. in Crane Counts for 3 Consecutive Years

As Puget Sound Business Journal reporter Marc Stiles recently tells readers, “if it looks like there are more construction cranes dotting the city of Seattle’s skyline, it’s because there are.” According to a report released in mid-July by Rider Levett Bucknall, “Seattle’s crane count increased from 45 to 65 from December through May,” which means “Seattle has more cranes than any other U.S. city for the third year in a row.”

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Seattle’s Population Growth Nears 50 People Per Day

The US Census Bureau recently released new population statistics that reveal Seattle added just over 17,000 people to its population in 2017, which equates to about 326 people per week or 46 people per day. As Curbed Seattle reports, Seattleites aren’t likely to be surprised at the latest figures, which show “that around 724,745 people lived in the Seattle city limits alone as of July 2017.”

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