Meanwhile, in the Pacific Northwest...
At Bisnow's Seattle Construction & Development Summit, all eyes were on multifamily, where the market is mirroring other major metros. Vulcan Real Estate residential development manager Brandon Morgan's (above) big shocker: not everyone in the residential market is a young tech worker. (Despite the Internet's claims otherwise, there are still people over 35.) Some of Vulcan's projects have successfully targeted older renters by offering a little more luxury and a little more space. And you can't count out the suburbs for young families, another often-forgotten rental segment, AvalonBay SVP Brian Fritz adds.
Relay senior partner David Mills (above) says that despite the fact there's demand for condos, developers still tend to shy away from them—for now. While developers will eventually build to meet demand, the question is when and where. In the rental market, people consistently want to be near restaurants and retail, and at some point, they're going to want to own their own homes at those locations. It'll be a bit of a slog, though. Multifamily construction time is up 25% from two years ago, from permitting and actual construction, David points out.
