I spent some time at my new office yesterday. See the video below. I’ve been having daily conversations with clients about Urban Flight and its impact on our major cities long term. First lets get familiar with why people are moving out of major city cores:
The stay-at-home orders brought on by coronavirus have more potential homebuyers looking for properties in the suburbs. In Seattle, there are other issues at play as well. Protesting, City Governance and homelessness have all contributed to the flight to the suburbs.
The only issue Seattle has, is that their leadership will not acknowledge the problem publicly. Investors, buyers and owners don’t like uncertainty. Therefore while the City of Seattle is awash in their own fears and lack of action – more and more residents are looking for safe-haven outside of the city core.
In the video, I used an example of a property in the South Puget Sound (Just south of Seattle).
A client of mine wrote an offer on a $450,000 waterfront home that ended up with 15 offers! Growing up just 10 minutes from this location, I know first-hand how euphoric the “affordable second home market is getting”. This example is a perfect case study. The house, although cute and on the water, would have never had this popularity without Coronavirus and the Urban Flight mentioned above. It is just 1,066sf with 2 bedrooms and 1.5 baths. Homes in this area typically sell anywhere from $350,000 to $900,000.
However, this place needed work, had some settling and an un-permitted bathroom. So why it sell for so much? Demand. People are fleeing the city for the safety of a second home.
Will People Come Back?
This house mentioned above is the exact reason why I put the video together to begin with. The question I posed in the video, which I think is really important is this:People have left the city, will they come back?
Leave a comment below, or on my Youtube channel to share your thoughts.
Do you believe that residents will come back to the big cities of the world? Here in Seattle, do you feel that if politics, homeless, covid and protesting improves that residents will flock to the city again?
Here is an active list of what is currently available in the Downtown Seattle condo market. It will be interesting to look at these numbers again next year.
