Have you been considering living urban in Downtown Seattle? If so, then don't miss the Belltown Condo Open House Tour on Sunday August 29th from 1pm to 4pm.

Over 40 individual Belltown condo and loft units representing 18 buildings, that are within block of one another, will be open to the public. This is a fantastic, and low-stress way, to check out many different properties in a single afternoon.

Just click the image below to download a tour map and you're ready to go!

Olive 8 Condominium (737 Olive Way) announced that it will auction 34 homes on Sunday, September 19th at 1 pm at the Hyatt at Olive 8 hotel (within the Olive 8 building).

The auction will be conducted by Kennedy Wilson, who previously handled auctions for the 5th & Madison Condominium, Queen Anne High School Condominium and the Press Condominium.

The 34 one- and two-bedroom homes being auctioned were previously listed between $395,000 and $1,235,000 and their starting bids will range from $160,000 to $440,000. The units are located on floors 18 through 26, and range in size from 650 square feet to 1,586 square feet.

As with the 5th & Madison auction, there is an unpublished reserve price. Therefore, the highest bidder may not necessarily be the winning bidder. Bids are subject to seller’s acceptance.

As with Kennedy Wilson’s other auctions, a “How to Buy” informational seminar will be held prior a week prior on Sunday, September 12th at 1 pm at the Hyatt at Olive 8.

Auction website: www.Olive8CondoAuction.com

Or access the auction website directly (behind the website registration wall) and download the auction brochure (pdf).

Auctions are a different beast so if you’re thinking of participating, be sure to (1) read the auction terms thoroughly (buyers do not have many of protections afforded to them as with a normal purchase transaction), (2) attend the “how to” session and/or (3) utilize the services of a buyer’s agent who can provide guidance, knowledge of auction procedures and buyer representation through the process. Note, if you tour the units on your own, you may not be eligible to your own representation if you decide to bid and purchase a unit.

Following on the footsteps of the successful Belltown condo open house event a couple of weeks ago, a similar event is taking place on Sunday 2/14 in downtown from 1 – 4 pm.

The tour covers over 15 units in 10 buildings – Continental Place, Market Court, One Pacific Tower, Newmark Tower, 98 Union, Colonial Grand Pacific, Watermark Tower, Waterfront Place, Royal Crest and Olive 8.

Additionally, I’ll be hosting an open house at Cristalla (2nd & Lenora) from 1-4 pm as well.

Click on image to download the map (PDF):

The following are upcoming land use review board meetings of new residential projects in the Seattle core districts, either planned as apartments or condos. Where applicable, I've noted existing condominiums located in the vicinity of the proposed structures.

2030 8th Avenue. 38-story 350-unit residential tower proposed in the Denny Triangle area. Located at 8th and Lenora, the building would be situated NW of the Cosmopolitan and SW of the 2200.

Design Review Early Design Guidance Meeting
February 9, 2010 at 5:30 PM
Seattle City Hall
Download the design proposal workbook (12 MB PDF)

2nd & Pike Tower (1430 2nd Ave). 35-story residential tower at the SE corner of 2nd & Pike. At one point the project was to include a hotel, Candela, which has since been removed from the proposal. The project is situated on the SE corner of the intersection, across from the Newmark Tower.

Design Review Second Early Design Guidance Meeting
February 9, 2010 at 7:00 PM
Seattle City Hall
Download the design proposal workbook (7MB PDF)

1200 Stewart. Twin 35-story towers proposed at the corner of Denny and Stewart to contain residential, hotel and retail space.

Design Review Board Meeting
February 23, 2010 at 5:30 pm
Seattle City Hall

151 John Street. This is a 7-story residential building proposed at the corner of John Street and Warren Avenue next to the Seattle Center. This the lot adjacent to the north of Queen Court.

Design Review Board Meeting
March 3, 2010 at 6:30 PM
Queen Anne Community Center

3031 Western Ave. This is Martin Selig's 14-story 78-unit apartment proposal that's situated at the north end of the Olympic Sculpture Park and west of the Alexandria.

Design Review Board Meeting
March 9, 2010 at 5:30 pm
Seattle City Hall

Here are some interesting condo statistics gleaned from the NWMLS’ 2009 Statistical Review and Highlights report. The NWMLS region covers 21 counties, mostly in western Washington.

• More than 52,000 closed residential sales in 2009 accounting for more than $17 billions in total sales volume, of which 6,800 were condos valued at $1.9 billion in sales.

• King County realized just over 20,200 residential sales valued at $8.6 billion, of which 4,191 were condos (down 18.8% from 2008) with a value of $1.3 billion.

• Only 43% of King County condo sales were located in Seattle.
  

• There were 1,793 condo sales in Seattle (down 15.5% from 2008) valued at $645 million. Condos accounted for 25% of all residential sales in Seattle.

• There were 802 sales of single family homes and 66 sales of condos priced $1 million or greater in 2009. Bellevue had the highest number of $1+ million sales overall, though Seattle accounted for 67% of all $1+ million condo sales (44 units).

• In Seattle, 56% of condo sales were priced under $300,000, 11% were priced above $500,000 and only 2.5% were $1 million or greater. For comparison, in 2008 46% of condo sales were priced under $300,000, 15% were priced above $500,000 and 3.2% were $1 million or greater.

• The median condo price in King County was $255,000; Seattle’s median condo price was $279,000.

Note: The NWMLS database and statistics do not include many new construction pre-sale units, private sales or auction sales.

Source: Data was obtained from the NWMLS press release and 2009 Statistical Review and Highlights report, with the exception of the Seattle statistics, which were compiled independently. Some figures were rounded.