Prices driving single women from downtown condo market

As new condominiums fill Seattle's skyline, who's living downtown is changing significantly — and who wants to live there is challenging developers to overcome rapidly rising construction costs that are making units increasingly unaffordable.

Half of downtown condo buyers are couples, a third are single men and the remaining 17 percent are single women, condo marketer Leslie Williams told a forum on downtown living presented this morning by the Downtown Seattle Association.

A decade ago, single men and single women each were about 25 percent of the market, said Williams, president of Williams Marketing.

"Females just can't afford the prices downtown," she said. "The biggest issue is affordability."

Condominium ads tell the tale. The remaining units in a new building at Ninth and Virginia were priced between $970,000 and $1.9 million in March. In April, a high-rise at Fourth and Virginia advertised prices from under $500,000 to over $4 million, adding "penthouses also available."

The median King County income is $65,940, according to state statistics. That supports a home purchase of about $270,000.

One solution, Williams said, is more condominiums in affordable areas close to downtown: Pioneer Square, Georgetown and Sodo, the industrial area between them.

Seattle's downtown population has grown 61 percent since 1990, and currently some 55,000 people live in the city center. Some 80 percent are renters.

People in their 30s comprise the largest group of condo buyers, but baby boomers are gaining. Buyers in their 50s were 13 percent of the market in the 1990s. They now account for almost a quarter. Some are buying condos as second homes.

What downtown isn't attracting is families. Williams said that in the last 15 years. she's sold perhaps 20 downtown units to buyers with kids.

"Not having schools and parks downtown is a continuing issue," she said. "Until we provide that infrastructure, things won't change."

However as a trend, downtown living "isn't slowing down any time soon," said Kate Joncas, president of the Downtown Seattle Association.

She counts 34 apartment and condominium projects currently under construction. Future projects will be larger, taller and more dense, she predicted. New ones can be expected to house more than 300 living units in a single tower.

Still, demand is outstripping supply, Joncas said, with downtown projects due for completion next year already 50 percent presold.

"Portland is half our size and has developed more condos in the last three years, so we're playing catch-up, she said.

Condo expo this weekend

Billed as "the ultimate open house," the 2007 Seattle condo expo and Realtor symposium will be held this weekend at the Westin Hotel, 1900 Fifth Ave., Seattle. Hours are Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. and Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m..

Information about more than $3 billion worth of new Seattle and Bellevue condominiums will be available. Several keynote presentations are scheduled, including a housing trend forecast by Seattle real estate economist Matthew Gardner. Real estate experts, mortgage lenders and interior design professionals also will be on hand.

Tickets are $10. More information: www.seattlecondoexpo.com.

Elizabeth Rhodes: erhodes@seattletimes.com