Women find they're priced out of condos downtown

As new condominiums fill Seattle's skyline, who's buying in downtown is subtly becoming a gender thing.

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 Wednesday 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. A high-rise at Fourth and Virginia recently advertised prices from less than $500,000 to more than $4 million, adding, "penthouses also available."

The median King County income -- $65,940, according to state statistics -- supports a home purchase of about $270,000. (Median means half earn more, half earn less.)

College-educated women with a decade of work experience earn 69 percent of what their male counterparts do, according to a recent national study by the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation.

Priced out of downtown, many professional single women are choosing Seattle's residential neighborhoods.

But Williams said it's not just about price; it's also a function of what they can get for their money and how they feel about their home.

"If all they can afford is, say, $550,000 -- and I hate to say that because that's a lot of money -- then downtown they can afford a one-bedroom on a lower floor," she noted.

But that same sum will buy a new, two-bedroom, two-bath unit on Phinney Ridge.

Men "like the bragging rights of being downtown," so they'll choose location over size or amenities, Williams said she has found.

Women are more interested in having a "home environment," she added.

Seattle's downtown population has grown 61 percent since 1990 to 55,000 people. Some 80 percent are renters.

People in their 30s are the largest group of condo buyers, but baby boomers are gaining.

Buyers in their 50s were just 13 percent of the market in the 1990, but 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 past 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."

As a trend, however, 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 under construction.

Future projects will be larger, taller and more dense, she predicted, and can be expected to house more than 300 living units in a single tower.

Still, Joncas said, demand is outstripping supply, 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 catchup," she said.

Rising construction costs are making it challenging to add more affordable downtown housing. In the past few years, the cost of various building materials has climbed 30 to 50 percent, noted Ada Healy, Vulcan's vice president of real estate.

The large number of building projects has made the labor pool very tight, compounding the problem.

"That's one of the significant hurdles, frankly, in trying to deliver affordable housing for rent or for sale," Healy said.

As a possible solution, Williams suggested building more condominiums in affordable areas close to downtown, such as Pioneer Square, Georgetown and the industrial area between them, Sodo.

What no one suggested is the newest trend in pricey San Diego. A developer there is building downtown condos in which two unrelated buyers team up to afford one unit with dual master suites.

He calls these condos "mingles."

Elizabeth Rhodes: erhodes@seattletimes.com