West Seattle housing market remains steady despite bridge closure

SEATTLE -- This week will mark a month since the West Seattle Bridge was closed, but the housing market appears to be steady.

Authorities closed the bridge on March 23 after finding large cracks forming on the bridge. The lower bridge is only open to Sound Transit buses and first responders.

The fate of the bridge is undetermined, as crews work to stabilize the bridge and prevent further cracking by fixing bearings on Pier 18 and adding support structures.

Elliott Nutt is a realtor who listed a home on Walnut Avenue SW in North Admiral over the weekend.

“We’ve had 23 scheduled showings in less than 24 hours,” said Nutt of Elliott Nutt Homes. “To be honest, we already have an offer but I think we’re going to wait it out for my client’s best interest because there’s so much activity.”

Nutt said historically West Seattle is a great investment.

“West Seattle is just resilient and it remains to be one of the most desirable neighborhoods in all of Seattle,” said Nutt.

Corey Martin, who has called West Seattle home for 15 years, agrees. Martin said his family moved to this neighborhood for its diversity.

“There’s a lot of great homes, there’s a lot of new homes, and I think it will drive pricing and we’ve been immune over the years in down markets. West Seattle has been strong for that,” said Martin.

Deanna Drake and her family stopped by to look at the newly listed home. Currently, they live in Seattle’s Mount Baker neighborhood, but Drake’s work is located in West Seattle.

“It used to be a 15-minute straight shot and now it’s 30 minutes to go around,” said Drake. “It’s weird to have traffic even when no one’s working, so I’m just dreading the time when we’re going to get a lot more traffic.”

Both the fate of the bridge and it’s impact on property values remain to be seen, but buyers and sellers are keeping a close eye.

“For us it would be great for property values to go down so we can afford to live somewhere nice here,” said Drake.

Authorities with the Seattle Department of Transportation said feasibility of bridge repair work is still being investigated. Currently, it looks like a $33 million repair job will extend the life of the bridge by a decade.

The bridge will remain closed for the remainder of 2020, and it may not reopen until 2022. There’s also a chance the bridge may never reopen.