Puget Sound, Washington, has experienced an investment boom in the multifamily sector to start 2025. Sales volume in the first quarter shot up by 113.1 percent year-over-year to $771.6 million.
Fairfield Residential made the largest first-quarter buy in the Redmond submarket, with its $147 million acquisition of 321-unit Riverpark Apartments. The next two biggest went to Timberlane Partners and CEP Multifamily, with their $80.22 million and $49 million acquisitions, respectively.
Rents averaged $2,138 per month, up 1.4 percent quarter-over-quarter and 1.7 percent year-over-year.
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"East Bellevue/Issaquah has the region’s highest annual rent growth at 5%, with monthly rents reaching $2,468 and only 393 units delivered this quarter," Colliers revealed.
"The weakest rent growth came from University District/Ballard and Capitol Hill/Central District, where rents declined by 0.5% and 0.4%, respectively."
That comes as construction continues to plummet. For example, a year ago, 25,068 units were underway before falling to 16,935 in the fourth quarter and 14,799 units in the first quarter. Additionally, deliveries have fallen from 3,824 12 months ago to 2,962.
Occupancy was up 90 basis points year-over-year to 95.1 percent, while the rate remained unchanged from the fourth quarter.
A small downside was that demand cooled off, at 2,835 units. That compares to 5,249 absorbed in the fourth quarter and 3,125 in the first quarter of 2024.
However, Colliers said that "demand for units remains high, considering these fundamentals persist after nearly 3,000 units delivered in the first quarter and almost 15,000 units are still under construction."
Also, the CRE firm added that economic uncertainties could raise construction costs and cause multifamily building in Puget Sound to decline even more.
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Anthony Russo
Anthony Russo has been contributing to GlobeSt. since July 2024. Along with CRE, his financial background expands to capital markets, the economy, and consumer issues. Previously, he has written for CapitalWatch and was a senior reporter for The US Sun.
