Seattle Culture
Sizzling Seattle Suburbia
This city is the most popular housing market in the country
By Rob Smith October 3, 2022
This article originally appeared in the July/August 2022 issue of Seattle magazine.
A Seattle suburb perhaps best-known for its wine, tourism and recreation has notched another big achievement as the most popular housing market in the United States.
An analysis of more than 1,000 cities by Seattle-based online residential marketplace Zillow finds that Woodinville tops a list of the 10 most spendy suburban areas based on page-view traffic, growth in home values and inventory for sale. Edmonds ranked No. 5.
The typical home in Woodinville, population 15,000, is worth $1.358 million, with more than 11% price growth during the first quarter of 2022. In Edmonds, the typical home is worth $946,000, an 8.8% increase.
Zillow found that suburban home appreciation is outpacing that in urban areas, something it calls a “reversal of previous norms,” as buyers prioritize affordability and space as remote work continues.
“Research suggests the rise of remote work is responsible for roughly half of home price growth during the pandemic,” says Zillow economist Nicole Bachaud, who is based in Seattle. “How many employers continue to allow this flexibility for employees to live where they choose will go a long way toward determining which markets are most in demand in the future.”
Follow Us
Master of Transparency
Award-winning architect Eric Cobb’s work seamlessly meshes glass, space and light
Noted architect Eric Cobb is collaborating on a second-home project near The Gorge Amphitheatre with a former junior high school soccer teammate, embodying a classic Seattle story of connection. The new Cliffe Pointe at the Gorge project located within the Cave B Estate grounds features 60 second homes surrounded by vineyards, natural sage, and rolling…
Sandy Sanctuary
Mercer Island couple find bliss with a cabana on the beach
With 8,000 lakes, fifth most in the country, Washington is a happy hunting ground for waterfront lots. Highly popular Lake Chelan, the third-deepest lake in the United States, is not on the top of the list of affordable freshwater options, at least not anywhere near Chelan, where scarce waterfront residential lots start at $2 million….
The Space Arranger
Kyle Gaffney and SkB take a holistic approach to building design
To say that Kyle Gaffney backed into a career in architecture may be a bit exaggerated, but he did get a late start. Gaffney, a cofounder and principal at Seattle architecture firm SkB, suffered a devastating knee injury and lost a soccer scholarship to the University of Puget Sound. Instead of college he went to…
Prairie Townhome Companions
Couple remakes Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired property
Place two architects, a hedgehog, and more than $100,000 under house arrest, and watch the magic unfold. Sandy Wolf founded Seattle’s Office of Ordinary Architecture in the belief that beauty is found in everyday objects. She and her husband — fellow architect Daniel Ash — were not disappointed in that regard in their long search…