The newest trend in the Seattle Real Estate Market isn’t adding another story, or buying a summer home on the Eastside; its all up in the air. According to King 5, The growing hype over “air rights” has homeowners in neighborhoods like Magnolia, Blue Ridge and Somerset in Bellevue scrambling to own the air above their homes. It is becoming more popular as our population density increases, and homeowners can’t spread out and extend their homes, so as the population increases, we build up. To prevent a neighbor from building upwards and blocking the view, many homeowners are will to pay a hefty price to protect their views.
According to King 5, two homeowners in Magnolia purchased the home next to theirs for $600,000 because they were worried about the damage a new neighbor could do to their waterfront view. They rented out the home for 9 years, and then finally sold it, but still retain the air rights above the property. They ended up asking for $100,000 less than the average asking price, and as a result the new homeowners aren’t legally allowed to build up or add a second story to the home. Generally these are rights can be anywhere between $50,000 to $250,000, but every home is different. Bill Gate’s air rights are in the upward millions. But homeowners that do own their air rights agree it’s money well spent to protect their views.