
A construction crane towers above Capitol Hill in 2018
By Matt Dowell
Seattle’s affordable housing crisis is still here but construction cranes have pretty much disappeared from the Capitol Hill skyline. According to local housing developers, thatβs because we arenβt building much these days.
βThere is almost no new construction happening in Seattle right now,β said Ben Maritz of Great Expectations, a Seattle-based real estate firm.
Permit application trends on the cityβs dashboard support the observations, showing a 47% year-over-year decrease last year in residential units under application. A statement from a spokesperson for the city confirmed that βDesign Review and all other land use review permit volumes are down across the entire city.β
This 2024 UW study on the effects of City housing policy noted that a slowdown in permits is a precursor to a slowdown in units entering the market, and it takes a couple of years to feel those effects. The report showed a decline in permit issuance for multifamily housing since 2021.

According to the report, itβs market conditions in the last few years that βhave had a chilling effect on housing production in Seattle.” Local developers agree.
Michael Oaksmith from Capitol Hill-based Hunters Capital, behind the recently finished Capitol Hilltop Apartments on 15th and Mercer, told us, βThe recent run up of interest rates really makes it hard for a property to pencil. Most developers I know, including us, have slowed their expectations for projects and their appetites for projects have gone down as a result of not being able to pump out an acceptable return.β
βMost experts are looking at pretty flat [interest] rates over the next twelve months which does not bode well for a flurry of activity,β he said. βItβll be a year or two of βsitting on our hands.”
Hunters is, meanwhile, preparing to redevelop 15th Ave E’s old QFC block with a new six-story, mixed-use apartment building — one of the few Capitol Hill projects to come in front of the East Design Review Board in 2024.
Real estate developers rely on investor money to get projects built, but investors arenβt signing up. Continue reading →