Effects of the Washington State Growth Management Act on housing development in the greater Seattle area

Abstract

This paper explores housing development in the Greater Seattle area in the context of the Washington State Growth Management Act. To establish an accurate picture of the workings of the Greater Seattle housing market, recent trends in regional employment growth, housing production, and home price movements are analyzed. Because the GMA imposes restrictions on development at portions of the region's urban/rural fringe, close attention is paid to the probable effects of constricting the region's supply of developable land, and to identification of development costs associated with denser housing typologies. Because the GMA envisions a network of Greater Seattle "Urban Centers" having high employment and household densities together with good access to roads, high levels of infrastructure and community resources, and good access to mass transit, two specific urban centers are reviewed: the Uptown Queen Anne Urban Center near downtown Seattle, and the Downtown Redmond Urban Center in Seattle's eastern suburbs.