In the realm of apartment market research, Seattle represents a bellwether of sorts these days, where broader trends and themes can be parsed. Seattle’s economy, population and real estate landscape have grown at rates previously considered impossible in a primary market. The city stands at the veritable intersection of technological and generational change — the corner of Large Cap Tech Boulevard and Millennial Street — and it has developed into the avatar of the infill, wood-frame mid-rise design touchpoint that defines so much of today’s urban apartment architecture. What happens here will reveal some of the trends likely to follow in similar markets — from Raleigh to Portland. Seattle was also the first major U.S. metropolitan market to grapple with the novel coronavirus, so the path that it follows will provide some insight into how the American multifamily market will mutate as we adjust to “life in the time of COVID,” to borrow a note from Garcia Marquez. By the same token, the Jet City faces the prospect of digesting an enormous multifamily supply pipeline that was, for the most part, conceived for the pre-COVID-19 world. The manner in which this supply is absorbed will speak volumes about how the …
