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Renter and Investor Momentum Picking Up
in Key Submarkets Across the Metro
Operations aligning across suburbs and CBD. After widening during the pandemic, the gap in vacancy between core Seattle and the metro’s greater suburbs has narrowed to within 100 basis points. Rates decreased across both zones last year, with availability in the central business district entering 2025 below the 6 percent threshold for the first time in two years. This was led by Downtown Seattle and the South Lake Union-Queen Anne area, while a 6 percent increase to local inventory weighed on operations in Capitol Hill. Net absorption is picking up here, however, despite some nearby employer office relocations to the Bellevue area, including from Amazon and Perkins- Coie. Vacancy in both East and West Bellevue, meanwhile, ended last year under 5 percent. That dynamic should hold this year amid a dearth of notable construction. Development is also low in the South Tacoma-University Place area, where vacancy fell by over 100 basis points last year, with a sub-5 percent reading for top-tier units. Class A vacancy remains most challenged in the North Seattle-Shoreline area amid ongoing new supply pressure. After last year’s near-8 percent jump in local stock, in 2025, openings here will tally a modestly lower 1,000 units.