Questions on Seattle downtown condos

[Ira500]

That's my feeling as well, that downtown condos are insanely expensive. Do they expect an army of rich people to invade, swoop in, and buy them?

[shaken_not_stirred]

Yeah that is my feeling as well. When I look at the per sqft prices on these condos, it makes me wonder 'Really? Seattle is that expensive?'. Some of the new highrises look very good in terms of construction and materials but asking $1300-$1400/sqft is just over the top.
Anyone have any sales information on these new highrises as to how many they have actually sold vs how much is the remaining inventory? I read somewhere that 1521 has been steadily selling and even they have 60+ out of 143 or so condos unsold. What is the story with Olive 8 or Escala or Madison Towers or any of the other new ones that went up since 05 or 06? I do see the number of listings keep going up and things that sat there 6 mos ago are still there but with no price reduction or a price point at which they can attract buyers.
I really like some of these new condos and would like to live in one of them when I move but maybe I should wait? The prices are a wee bit distanced from reality and I wonder how they are making the sales. Do they give you like a large kickback/cashback if you buy at those prices?

[MaikeerinWA]

As an side, does anyone remember when the affordable but tiny 300 sq ft Moda condominiums were in the news a couple of years ago?

296 square feet -- but it's home (http://www.seattlepi.com/local/283265_tinycondo31.html - broken link)

They had a lot of initial demand, but buyers subsequently backed out and they ended up being apartments.

[Under The Clouds]

I think the insanely priced condos are limited to a few buildings, namely Four Seasons and Escala, aimed at second home buyers or people with a lot of equity looking to retire and/or downsize. I don't think that represents the bulk of the condo market in Seattle. The prices for the recent auctions at Brix (on Capitol Hill) and Gallery were in the $390-$435 per square foot range, which I think is a market-sustainable price for condos in the city center. At the height of the bubble in 2007, the price per square foot for new units in central Seattle were between $600-$700, so they've already fallen quite a bit.

[shaken_not_stirred]

Under the Clouds, most of the downtown new construction condos average about $1000+ a sqft. That is not just limited to Four Seasons and Escala but pretty much most of them....1521, Madison Tower, Olive 8, Cristalla et al. $390-$435 per sqft will get you nothing in any of those buildings. Infact anything less than $700/sqft won't even get you a city view, low floor 1bdrm condo in them.
And this is not 2007. The bubble times have come and gone. Unless these developers are hoping for another bubble era to come soon, I don't see how they will deplete their inventory. Lending is pretty tough now to get and will continue to remain so for a long time. Unless these developers are planning to sell to Bill Gates and Paul Allen, it remains to be seen how the condos are going to sell.

[Under The Clouds]

I just looked at a few listings at Escala and Olive 8, and they are all well under $1000 per square foot. Are there some specific listings you're looking at these buildings that I've missed? In any event, you should look at Gallery in Belltown, since it's a new building with prices under $500 per square foot.