Seattle Construction Recap: January 2026

January is Seattle's slow season for construction, and the permit record shows it. Only 52 homes broke ground all month, split across three small infill sites. The bigger story came at the other end of the pipeline, where a 243 home tower in Northgate opened and made up most of the housing finished in January.

Projects that broke ground

Three projects had their construction permit issued in January, which clears them to start building. Together they add 52 homes.

The Ballard building at 927 NW 57th St is the largest of the three by home count, 26 units over four stories. The Northgate start carries the highest permit value at about $4.1 million. All three are mid size infill, the kind of project that fills the gaps between the bigger downtown starts.

Buildings that opened

January's openings came to 351 homes, almost all of them in the three buildings below.

The Northgate tower, 14343 15th Ave NE, is an eight story building with 243 homes, and a completion that large is unusual for any single month. The Fremont building at 4905 Aurora Ave N adds another 95 homes on the Aurora corridor. Both took years to build, so their January opening reflects work that began well before this year.

Projects that cleared land use review

One project cleared land use review in January, meaning its master use permit was issued. That is 3500 NE 94th St in Wedgwood, a three story building with 12 homes. It was the only master use permit issued all month, a slow start to the year on the entitlement side.

New projects filed

Seven distinct projects filed a new development application in January. The two biggest are 425 Pontius Ave N, a seven story, 199 home building in South Lake Union, and 3622 Woodland Park Ave N, a 133 home project in Fremont. The rest are smaller, including 4134 Beach Dr SW in West Seattle at 18 homes, plus applications in the University District, Northgate, and Wallingford. A filing only starts the clock, and most take one to three years to reach a construction permit.

How this recap is built

The numbers here come from dated permit facts. Ground breakings are development construction permits issued in January, openings are permits that reached a certificate of occupancy or final inspection, and land use approvals are master use permits issued that month. Only visible, residential projects feed the home totals. Late records still trickle in, so January's counts may rise a little.

This is the first entry in a monthly series. To see where any project above stands today, open BuildVue's map or a neighborhood page.