Puget Sound Multifamily Demand Ends 11 Straight Quarters of Growth
After years of growing demand for multifamily in Puget Sound, the category has pulled back. The fourth quarter absorption total was -1,938 units, a turnaround from the positive 900 units absorbed in the previous three months, according to a report from CBRE.
The CRE firm said that this comes as the "market rebalances from 11 consecutive quarters of growth."
Occupancy was also sluggish, dropping by 80 basis points quarter-over-quarter to 94.7 percent. The Seattle area struggled the most with vacancies, averaging a 5.7 percent rate.
Also, rents dropped by 1.9 percent, but increased by 30 basis points year-over-year, to $2.70 per square foot.
However, those fundamentals aren't stopping investment. In 2025, transaction volume jumped by 48 percent to $5.96 billion. The number of transactions came out to 5,854 units in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, the average sales price dropped by about $4,000 per unit to $305,000 in the fourth quarter versus the previous three months.
The top multifamily sale in the Puget Sound market involved the property Via6, trading for $295 million in Seattle. Jackson Apartments and Dockside Apartments were the next closest, going for $173 million and $95.60 million, respectively.
Another positive development was that deliveries slowed to 1,853 units, compared with 2,414 in the third quarter.
Meanwhile, it's now more than 2.3 times more expensive to own than it is to rent in the Seattle metro area, according to CBRE.
Source: GlobeSt/ALM