Colliers Sets Pricing Records in Sale of Seattle Apartment Buildings

May 4, 2018, Seattle, WA – Dylan Simon and Jerrid Anderson of Colliers’ Seattle Multifamily Team set new pricing records for the region, closing the sales of Pomelo Heights and The Willet, both located in Seattle’s University District.

Pomelo Heights sold for $4,950,000, equating to $876 per rentable square foot—the highest sales price per square foot for any wood-frame apartment building in the region’s history. The Willet closed for $5,450,000, equating to $843 per rentable square foot and $272,500 per unit—a record price per unit for a small efficiency dwelling unit (SEDU) and 50% higher than average SEDU sales in the region.

Photo: Pomelo Heights

Built in 2017, Pomelo Heights and The Willet are steps from the University of Washington and the forthcoming University District light rail station. Pomelo Heights is a five-story building comprising 23 units with an average size of 246 square feet per unit. The Willet’s 20 studio homes, each of which is a corner unit with high-end features, average 323 square feet per unit. The Willet offers sustainable living features such as roof-top solar power generation, a green-roof, and energy efficient windows and appliances. More details about The Willet are available on the property’s website: https://www.thewillet.com/.

Photo: The Willet

The Seattle Multifamily Team marketed Seattle’s first-ever efficiency-unit apartment sale in the Summer of 2015, at a time when many investors did not consider these buildings a recognized asset class. Since that time, developers delivered 5,000 efficiency units in the region, with another 7,000 units currently in various stages of development and planning.

Initially underestimated by the multifamily industry, efficiency housing is now a cornerstone of the Seattle market, and the Seattle Multifamily Team leads the way in understanding their operation and value. Of the nine SEDU and micro apartment buildings sold in Seattle, the Seattle Multifamily Team brokered six of those sales—representing nearly 70% market share. In August 2017, the Team released the multifamily industry’s first-ever Efficiency Unit Report, a market report analyzing trends in rental rates, occupancy, development, and sales of this unique asset class.

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