Condo Conversion Wave Hits SeattleCasey Millsbyline‚ Apr. 02‚ 2007In San Francisco, those fighting against limits to condo conversions often call tenant rights activists alarmists, claiming the effect of lifting the current cap of 200 conversions per year would be negligible. For proof they’re wrong, one need look no further than a few hundred miles north to Seattle, Washington, where high housing costs and a hot condo market recently prompted a dramatic spike in conversions. The total number of apartments converted to condos in Seattle grew from 430 in 2004 to 1,551 in 2005 to 2,352 last year. For you math junkies, that’s a 450 percent increase over two years. As if these numbers weren’t shocking enough, the Democratic-controlled Washington state legislature just gutted a bill designed to mitigate the effects of this conversion wave, eliminating language that would allow municipalities to implement caps similar to San Francisco’s. |