Housing Construction Slows to a Crawl in Seattle's Suburbs

Mike Rosenberg reports on the regional housing market in Seattle, where suburban housing construction has slowed considerably, especially compared to the record-setting pace of building taking place in the more urban, central areas of the region.

The region's suburbs are no longer producing housing at a rate commensurate with the suburban share of the region's population. "Overall, Seattle housing construction has grown 130 percent this decade compared to the average over the prior three decades, while housing development in the suburbs has dropped 43 percent from its historical average," reports Rosenberg. The decline of suburban housing means housing production is declining for the region as a whole—that despite steady development in Seattle producing what some are describing as a glut in the rental market.

"The shift is the result of a combination of developers chasing the biggest profits in Seattle – where housing demand has gone through the roof, and city leaders have opened the floodgates for bigger buildings – and suburbs restricting new construction through zoning laws that all but ban new housing in most parts of the region," according to Rosenberg.

The feature-length coverage of the regional landscape for housing development includes a lot of data visualizations and additional means of putting the suburban housing slow down in perspective.