Seattle’s Lot Sizes Shrinking: Big-Yard Homes Increasingly Far From The Urban Core

• The median lot size in the Seattle metro area reached 5,200 sq. ft. in 2020, down 30% over the past two decades.
• Meanwhile, home sizes in the metro area are 25% larger than they were 20 years ago.
• Seattle and Tacoma are home to the three ZIP Codes with the smallest yard spaces in the metropolitan area.
• ZIP Code 98580 in Roy is home to the biggest yards in the Seattle metro area.
• Overall, the median lot size in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA, sits at 8,400 square feet.

Home prices are now at historic highs. The median price of an existing home reached $341,600, with all major regions in the US posting double-digit increases. Rising demand for housing combined with the high cost of land and building materials has pushed lot sizes to new lows across the country. The median size of a lot for a new home was 7,900 square feet in 2020, down 11% compared to 2000. Meanwhile, homes are getting bigger – the median size of a single family home built in 2020 was 2,260 square feet, up 12% from two decades before.

As one of the cities which drive these trends, Seattle’s red-hot real estate market is only getting hotter. With roughly 70% of residential plots dedicated to single family living and an ever-growing population, available land is practically non-existent, adding a new level of competitiveness to the residential landscape. The median price of a home in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro area has jumped 17.9% y-o-y to $653,400.

Those who can still find room to build in Seattle are delivering larger homes, often at the expense of yard space. But unlike many of the nation’s hotspots, and luckily for those who favor outdoor space, the area is geographically rich and spread-out enough to cater to all tastes and budgets. Seattle developers have been targeting suburban locations with good connections to the urban core where land is still available and affordable, allowing places like Black Diamond, Enumclaw, or Puyallup to visibly flourish with new development.

Let’s see how things evolved in Seattle in terms of lot sizes in the last 20 years and where we can still find homes with sizable yards.

Seattle metro sees median lot size decreasing by over 30% over the past two decades

Driven by changes in Seattle and Tacoma, lot sizes in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metropolitan area experienced a significant drop, from roughly 7,600 square feet in 2000 to 5,200 square feet currently. During the same period, the median size of a new home increased by about 25%, from a median size of a little under 2,200 square feet two decades ago to 2,700 square feet last year. The overall median lot size in the Seattle metropolitan area currently sits at 8,400 square feet.

The median lot size for the city of Seattle stands at almost 1,180 square feet, down almost 70% from 20 years ago. A surge in townhouse construction is one of the reasons for the sharp drop in the median lot size in the city – about 40% of the homes built in 2000 in Seattle were townhouses, compared to 70% last year.

Tacoma has also seen lot sizes drop, from 7,700 sq. ft. in 2000 to 5,750 square feet last year. On the other hand, the median lot size for homes built in 2020 in Bellevue was over 10,000 square feet, approximately the same as two decades previously.

Shrinking Lot Sizes Make Yard Space a Hot Commodity in Seattle

Bigger homes on smaller lots means new homes in Seattle benefit from a lot less outdoor space than they used to. To see where Seattleites on the move would find small outdoor spaces, or on the other hand, where they can still enjoy plenty of yard space while being close to the urban action, we’ve looked at ZIP Codes in the entire metropolitan area and ranked them by land plot size.

We calculated median available outdoor space by subtracting the ‘footprint’ home size — averaging the space over all the stories of a property — from the lot size area to identify  the Seattle ZIP Codes with the largest and smallest yards.

Westlake and Cascade are Metro Seattle’s areas with the smallest yard space available

The metropolitan area’s zip codes with the smallest yards are, naturally, located in Seattle’s bustling Downtown and adjacent neighborhoods, where residents are trading backyard space for easy access to entertainment, culture and a more intense lifestyle.

Top 10 Seattle Metro Neighborhoods With The Smallest Yards

Want Outdoor Space? Head to Roy and Ravensdale

Last year was a red-letter moment for the housing market. The pandemic has effectively fueled a trend that had been a long time in the making, with many people rearranging housing priorities, either out of necessity or by sheer will. After years of seeking proximity to bustling downtowns, many are now going for greener, more spacious neighborhoods. This is where Seattleites find the silver lining as suburban Seattle is packed with homes that sit on extensive green acreage – if they’re willing to commute, that is – or adopt the work-from-home setup long-term, which is now more common than it has ever been. The tech-oriented Seattle Metro workforce in particular is more likely to be working remotely than employees in other areas of the country, with Microsoft alone having almost 54,000 employees still working from home.

Here are the top 10 ZIP Codes with the biggest yard space in the Seattle metro area:

1. ZIP code 98580 – Roy, Spanaway, North Yelm

Homes in the 98580 ZIP Code boast yards with a median square footage of 97,800  – that’s almost two full-sized football stadiums. The area, located close to Tacoma and about an hour away from Seattle, features mostly ranch-style properties, and a laidback vibe. Spanaway Lake provides swimming beaches, and a beautiful golf course is located nearby – even more opportunities for outdoor fun.

2. ZIP code 98051 – Ravensdale, Hobart and Maple Valley

With sprawling backyards of over 95,000 square feet, the approx. 3,300 people calling 98051 home get to enjoy both room to breathe and easy access to the city, as both Tacoma and Seattle are a mere 30 minutes’ drive away. The Kanaskat-Palmer State Park and the Cedar River Trail are nearby and are excellent spots for active family fun.

3. ZIP code 98050 – Preston, King County

The median size of a backyard in the 98050 ZIP code, which is located mostly in the unincorporated community of Preston, stands at over 81,000 square feet. Preston is within easy driving distance (14 miles) of Bellevue and is 22 miles east of Seattle.

4. ZIP code 98330 – Elbe, Pierce County

This small community of less than 200 residents, adjacent to Elbe Hills State Forest, is definitely close to nature, with the median amount of green space per single family home at almost 77,000 square feet. The Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad starts here, and the Mineral Lake, touted as one of the best spots for trout fishing in western Washington, is only three miles south from the town.

5. ZIP code 98394 – Vaughn, Pierce County

Homes in ZIP code 98394 – which contains the unincorporated community of Vaughn – have a median yard size of just a little under 70,000 square feet. The area is a 30 minutes’ drive away from Tacoma and an hour away from Seattle.

6. ZIP code 98024 – Fall City, King County

Homes in ZIP code 98024, which incorporates Fall City, benefit from lot sizes with over 60,000 square feet of outdoor space. There are around 6,000 residents here, and the community lies along the Snoqualmie River. The area is about 25 miles away from Seattle.

7. ZIP code 98328 – Eatonville, Pierce County

The approx. 10,000 residents of ZIP code 98328, consisting of Eatonville and some surrounding areas, enjoy homes with yards of over 55,000 square feet. Tacoma is about 34 miles away, while Seattle is 60 miles away.

8. ZIP code 98351 – Longbranch, Pierce County

Located on the very tip of the Key Peninsula, this small ZIP code with a population of 1,200 residents features homes with a median backyard size of almost 50,000 square feet. Seattle is about 65 miles away, while Tacoma is only 34 miles distant.

9. ZIP code 98333 – Fox Island, Pierce County

The median size of backyards in this island community is a little over 42,000 square feet. Commuting is quite accessible also: Tacoma is a mere 18 miles away, while Seattle is about 50 miles away.

10. ZIP code 98070 – Vashon Island, King County

Another island closes out the top 10 of the greenest ZIP codes in Seattle metropolitan area. The more than 10,000 residents of Vashon Island enjoy homes with a median backyard size of 40,000 square feet. The island is well connected via the Washington State Ferries System – you’ll reach both Seattle and Tacoma in about an hour. Also, you can use the King County Water Taxi system to access downtown Seattle.

Need more room to roam around at home? The self storage market in Seattle fills in the need for extra space

Self storage has become a hot necessity in today’s residential landscape. Whether living in a small city apartment with less space than stuff or enjoying a nice home with a large backyard that requires plenty of gardening equipment but no place for it, people need extra space. Seattle generally responds well to this need for storage space away from home, with price and inventory variations across the metropolitan area.

Seattle Metro Area Self Storage Street Rates and Availability

Methodology:

• The data analyzed for this article comes from Property Shark, Yardi Matrix, US Census and United States Zip Codes.
• Available yard space was calculated by subtracting the home size (the average of all its floors) from the lot size area.