Waterfront Report 2018/2019

Summer is just around the corner and with that, comes waterfront season. RSIR has released a comprehensive analysis of 15 months of waterfront sales, from January 2018 through March 2019. This in-depth look provides insights to 14 Washington counties and highlights five subregions — including the waterfront center which addresses the city of Seattle and Eastside King County.

From experience, the best time to buy waterfront in Seattle central area is May through November. Often in late fall, buyers lose focus on waterfront and this can be a valuable time to purchase. This report largely verifies the expected peak times for buyers and sellers in waterfront transactions — helping you glean a little more knowledge into when the right time is for you to jump in the market.

In my opinion, the premier waterfront is between SR-520 south to I-90. Seward Park (just south of I-90) is coming on very strong in popularity right now because it affords easy access to downtown Seattle and Sea-Tac airport. The value proposition is a very important thing to focus on from I-90 south — there are beautiful properties that you just can't find on the Eastside (when you compare to Medina or Kirkland for example). When you go a bit further south, which works well for those that need in-city and airport access, it's a great location.

Waterfront is always a commodity and is always in demand. South of I-90, there is an excellent rower's club at Stan Sayres Park, Seafair provides great recreation for families every year, and the Christmas ships dock at Leschi and come into both the Mt. Baker Park and Andrews Bay. There is always something going on at the waterfront! You can literally walk or bike from the Mt. Baker Swim Beach along Lake Washington Boulevard all the way to Seward Park, and of course, Madison Park provides a lovely village to visit.I believe this is one of the best waterfront locations in Seattle but many offer different selling points. Below are a few important neighborhood highlights. For a full list of the report, please visit RSIRWaterfront.com.

Ballard, Green Lake & North Seattle

At $2.2 million, the average residential waterfront selling price in North Seattle was more than double the median price of $1.04 million, skewed by Laurelhurst homes that sold between $4.6 to $11 million. Peak sales in 2018 were in the months of May and June with seven and eight sales monthly, respectively.

Bellevue & Mercer Island

The sales in these two cities peaked in May and June of 2018. Homes on the shorefront of Lake Washington sold (on average) for 10.8 percent more than homes on Lake Sammamish with the median price being 25.1 percent greater. There were 34 waterfront sales during this time period with average and median selling prices of $4.17 million and $3.08 million, respectively.

Magnolia to Madison Park

While sales in Bellevue and Mercer Island peaked in May and June of 2018, sales in this area actually peaked in October of 2018. From Lake Union west, the average and median selling prices were $1.08 million and $560,000, respectively. For East Lake Union to Leschi, the average and median selling prices were $2.03 million and $1.63 million, respectively.

West & Southeast Seattle

The average and median waterfront prices in West Seattle were $1.06 million and $754,000, respectively. There were four residential waterfront sales between $1.4 million and $3.15 million between April 2018 and March 2019, but the remaining 14 waterfront sales were each for less than half a million dollars, and all but one were condominiums.

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