An apartment complex in Seattle's Queen Anne district sold for the highest price on record in the neighborhood northwest of downtown in another sign that some multifamily investors are moving off the sidelines to make deals in the region.
GID Investment Advisors paid $75.8 million, or just under $416,500 per unit, for the 182-unit property at 300 First Ave. W. from Greystar, based in Charleston, South Carolina, according to King County property data.
The acquisition of the six-story property is part of an increase in large apartment sales across greater Seattle and the United States this year.
U.S. multifamily sales volume reached nearly $40 billion in the first half of the year, edging up 2% compared to the same period in 2023, as the apartment sector shows early signs of stabilizing after two challenging years, according to CoStar's latest U.S. Multifamily Capital Markets Report.
The sale of the Windsor Queen Anne apartments, formerly called Elan Uptown Flats, is the second large multifamily purchase by GID in less than two weeks.
The Boston-based investment firm on Aug. 28 bought the 202-unit Windsor Juanita Bay complex in Kirkland from Singapore-based CapitaLand for $73.4 million, or $363,119 per unit.
GID's more recent deal in Queen Anne is the biggest multifamily sale by total price on record in the popular neighborhood bordered by Belltown to the south and the Lake Washington Ship Canal to the north, eclipsing the $68.2 million purchase of the Slate apartments at 3040 17th Ave. W. in 2013, CoStar data shows.
Asking rents average about $2,671 per month at Windsor Queen Anne, well above the $2,100 average for the submarket, CoStar data shows.
Seattle's Queen Anne and other urban neighborhoods should keep drawing strong interest from investors as renters to live in transit-served locations close to employment hubs, said Elliott Krivenko, director of market analytics for CoStar in Seattle.
"Units in the Queen Anne area tend to lease up pretty quickly, despite robust construction in the area," Krivenko said. "Residents are attracted to the neighborhood's suburban, while still having ready access to the city's urban core."