Studios and Micro-Units in Seattle Gain Popularity

For the first time, one out of 10 homes in Seattle has just one room, per the latest Census Bureau data. Since the start of this decade, this housing type has grown almost 80 percent.

In 2010, there were more homes with nine or more rooms in Seattle than rooms with just one. Today, there are approximately 37,000 of these homes. Most are studio apartment units, sized between 450 and 500 square feet, but the share of units with fewer square feet, called micro-units or SEDUs (small efficiency dwelling units), than a typical studio is growing. Real estate data firm CoStar says that 88 multifamily buildings with an average unit size of less than 400 square feet have been built, or are being built in Seattle since 2010, The Seattle Times reports.

The distribution of Seattle homes by the number of rooms is quite evenly spread out, but four rooms is the most common—there are more than 60,000 homes with four rooms. That could be, for example, a home with two bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen (bathrooms don’t count as rooms in census surveys, nor do foyers, hallways, alcoves, porches, unfinished basements, and attics, and so on). Three-room units are a close second, at about 58,000.

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