Downtown Seattle tops peer cities for residential construction -- for now

The perception is few people want to live in downtown Seattle. New numbers tell a different story.

Among 10 U.S. peer cities, downtown Seattle and the neighborhoods that ring it have the most residential units (over 4,000) under construction. This is according to the 2024 Development Guide that the Downtown Seattle Association released last week.

This building boom, however, is fading, with just 11 permit applications for both commercial and residential projects made last year. The residential projects have only 346 residential units in total.

That's a sharp decline from recent years. Permit applications for residential and commercial permits topped out at 101 in 2016, and the annual average over the last 15 years was nearly 52 projects.

https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2025/01/06/downtown-seattle-residential-building-booms.html