Seattle Culture
Sizzling Seattle Suburbia
This city is the most popular housing market in the country
By Rob Smith October 3, 2022
This article originally appeared in the July/August 2022 issue of Seattle magazine.
A Seattle suburb perhaps best-known for its wine, tourism and recreation has notched another big achievement as the most popular housing market in the United States.
An analysis of more than 1,000 cities by Seattle-based online residential marketplace Zillow finds that Woodinville tops a list of the 10 most spendy suburban areas based on page-view traffic, growth in home values and inventory for sale. Edmonds ranked No. 5.
The typical home in Woodinville, population 15,000, is worth $1.358 million, with more than 11% price growth during the first quarter of 2022. In Edmonds, the typical home is worth $946,000, an 8.8% increase.
Zillow found that suburban home appreciation is outpacing that in urban areas, something it calls a “reversal of previous norms,” as buyers prioritize affordability and space as remote work continues.
“Research suggests the rise of remote work is responsible for roughly half of home price growth during the pandemic,” says Zillow economist Nicole Bachaud, who is based in Seattle. “How many employers continue to allow this flexibility for employees to live where they choose will go a long way toward determining which markets are most in demand in the future.”