Emerald Bay Equity has sold two Upper Queen Anne mixed-use retail/residential buildings – Eden Hill and the Sweetbrier – to affiliates of Deutsche Bank real-estate subsidiary RREEF for a total of $44 million, according to a report by The Seattle Times.

Eden Hill and the Sweetbrier are just two of EBE’s four-part 2.1 acre development plan for Queen Anne, called “The Collection”. The third and fourth phases of the development include the Seven Hills Apartments and Met Market Redevelopment, both of which are scheduled to break ground in 2011 and 2012 respectively.

EBE put all four properties in The Collection up for sale back in April, in the hopes of finding a solution for the projects’ financing challenges. At the time EBE principal Joe Geivett said he preferred the possibility of a joint venture over a sale, but ultimately opted to split the buildings in The Collection between EBE and RREEF in the deal.

Both Eden Hill and the Sweetbrier are apartment complexes with ground-floor retail, both of which were completed in the last three years. Together the buildings have a total of 84 residential units, and over 30,000 square feet of ground-level retail, the Times piece reports.

For more information on EBE’s ongoing developments on Queen Anne, including the forthcoming Seven Hills Apartments and Met Market Redevelopment, check out our ongoing coverage.

Real estate figures for Queen Anne and Magnolia have not improved since February, according to Managing Broker with John L. Scott Real Estate John Madrid.

Based on numbers from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, he said it was another difficult month for Queen Anne and Magnolia with prices down significantly compared to the same time last year, as well as being down from the numbers last month.

He’s cautiously optimistic, however, pointing out that the market is still in the “balanced” range at 4.28 months of inventory on the market.

The figures given by Madrid, which are also posted on his blog, can be compared to last month’s here.

Buyers in the region have plenty of homes to choose from, although selection has tapered down compared to a year ago, according to a NWMLS press release on March real estate activity for Western Washington.

“In fact, some urban core neighborhoods, such as Greenlake, Queen Anne and West Bellevue, are seeing very strong demand, and a waning supply of desirable homes for sale,” said President and COO of Coldwell Banker Bain Mike Grady in the NWMLS press release.

Overall, the current real estate statistics give reason for optimism when considering this year’s lack of the federal tax credits used by home buyers last year, said Grady.

“Most real estate professionals will be happy to move past the year-over-year comparisons that have been made the first few months of 2011, as they reflect the boost given home sales by last year’s Homebuyer Tax Credit,” said Grady. “Home sales are now standing on their own — without the benefit of incentives — and the market is actually behaving quite typically.”

NWMLS Director and President of Windermere Real Estate Company OB Jacobi agreed that the market is doing remarkably well without a stimulus.

“Considering that this time last year there was a rush of buyers trying to beat the tax credit deadline, to have the number of sales off just slightly points towards a strengthening market,” said Jacobi in the NWMLS press release.

The Queen Anne real estate market continued to favor home buyers last month, said Managing Broker with John L. Scott Real Estate John Madrid.

“February was a tough month for home sellers in Queen Anne and Magnolia, with prices down significantly from February of last year,” said Madrid.

The figures given by Madrid, which were processed from Northwest Multiple Listing Service data and posted on his blog, can be compared to last month’s here.

In Queen Anne and Magnolia, the overall months of inventory is 5.7 months, which is up from 4.84 last month, according to Madrid’s figures. This makes selling homes a little more difficult, but this is still in the range of a “balanced market,” according to Madrid, which is much better than the figure from this same time last year.

“This is a big improvement from the over 9 months of inventory on the market in February 2010,” said Madrid, adding that homes are moving quicker due to more competitive house pricing. The average number of days on the market fell from 80 last year and 67 last month to 56 days in February.

Home prices were relatively flat compared to last month, with mean prices slightly down and median prices slightly up. The number of homes closed in February, 27, is down from January’s 33, but is up by two from last year’s figure.

The current, and fleeting, combination of lowering home prices and low mortgage interest rates is favoring Queen Anne and Magnolia home buyers, said Managing Broker with John L. Scott Real Estate John Madrid. With conditions expected to persist for another year, this makes it a difficult time for Queen Anne area sellers.

According to figures Madrid processed from Northwest Multiple Listing Service data, there was a 110 percent increase in new houses on the market with a 30 percent drop in the number of homes sold from Dec. 10 to Jan. 11. During the same period, the months of inventory numbers, or the amount of homes on the market divided by the average monthly sales, increased 80 percent from the month before and 14 percent from the same month last year.

Queen Anne and Magnolia home prices have suffered from the increasingly competitive market. The average price of homes sold in January dropped almost 17 percent compared to the previous month, and 14.5 percent compared to the same month last year. Similarly, the median price of homes in Queen Anne and Magnolia fell from $495,000 to $475,000, a 22 percent decrease from the same month last year ($600,000 in Jan. 2010). But home prices in the Queen Anne and Magnolia area remain relatively high, and homes priced on the higher end generally take more time to move.

But Queen Anne sellers still have a few reasons for optimism.

“We have a relatively strong market here, people want to be in the city,” said Madrid. “Queen Anne and Magnolia are definitely great communities where people want to be, so there will always be demand.”

With the increasingly competitive home pricing, the average time homes spend on the market fell compared to the year before, from 114 days to 67, according to Madrid in a post on his blog.

“A lot of buyers are finding new motivation to actually purchase because interest rates have started to tick up, which could be good news for sellers,” said Madrid. He added that “if a home is nicely updated and is competitively priced then there’s always going to be interest in those homes.”

Home sellers who are looking to trade up in the housing market will find this is the time to do it, said Madrid. Despite a lower than desired price for their current home, they’re likely to get a good price for a home on the higher end of the market, Madrid said.

The Seattle-area real estate market lagged behind the rest of the country 12 to 18 months with respect to the collapse of the housing market, which explains the dip in price we see relative to other parts of the country, said Madrid. Prices are expected to generally stabilize this year and then begin to slowly rise in 2012, but without the dramatic increases seen in 2004 through 2007.

Developers have scrapped plans to build a 32-story residential tower on Denny Way a few blocks from the Space Needle, and the property is now for sale, reports the Seattle Times. Icon Tower was a tall, narrow condo building planned for a small, triangular parking lot (see in Google StreetView), and it would have been the tallest structure in close proximity to the Space Needle.

California developer Laconia purchased the property for $4.38 million in 2007.

Prices have been slashed at the luxurious 200 West Highland condo development, which has a spectacular view right across from Kerry Park. 

Only two units have sold since they went on the market in March, leaving 23 homes still up for grabs.  Prices have been cut — one unit has been reduced nearly a million dollars. Prices start at $950,000 and spike to just over $3 million.  During an open house on Sunday, we got a peek from inside.

This is the million dollar view from the penthouse level.  Actually, make that a $3.15 million view of Elliott Bay. Other units face downtown.

This is the view you can buy from one of the “cheaper” units. 

Two and three bedroom homes have floor plans that range from 1,500 to 2,800 square feet, and they feature large, open spaces with custom hardwood floors and stone slab countertops.  And have I mentioned the view?

Dendreon Corp., a Seattle-based biotechnology company focused on cancer research is subleasing the second and third floors of the building that formerly housed the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on lower Queen Anne.  According to CoStar Group, Dendreon will use the two floors of the five-story building for expansion as they search for permanent headquarters.  The P-I closed up shop on its print division earlier this year and now exists online only.

Martin Tobias, the man behind quite a few Seattle startups, has sold one of Queen Anne’s most beautiful homes. Here’s the view from the living room:

The four bedroom, 3.5 bath house on West Prospect Street was featured in a recent Pacific Northwest magazine spread. Tech blogger Brian Dudley says Tobias sold the home for $4.3 million, down from the initial listing price last summer of $5.9 million. A former Microsoft employee, Tobias started Loudeye Techologies and recently started a site called Kashless.org.

Recently the national media reported that home sales declined dramatically last month and housing prices posted their sharpest decline in four decades as a rapidly slowing economy discouraged many potential buyers from tip-toeing into the market.  

This trend was also seen in the Seattle area as reported in the Seattle Times   as people are waiting and looking for the “bottom” of the decline and wondering what the government will do with interest rates.

Seattle, Portland and Atlanta recorded their first double-digit annual declines in October, with Seattle down 10.2 percent, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index of existing single-family home prices.

According to Brian Marshall of ReMax, on Queen Anne, the market has also slowed with longer “days on the market” (DOM) for houses. In November there were 100 homes in the “active” category with only 13 homes selling.  The economy and the season are both contributors to this.

Sales of existing homes declined 8.6 percent last month, to a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.49 million, according to the National Association of Realtors, a trade association. The median price of a home fell 13 percent in November, to $181,300 from $208,000 a year ago. That was the lowest price since February 2004.  The New York Times has lots of charts and graphs giving us a look at the national trends.

Queen Anne, long known for being a cozy, traditional Seattle neighborhood with tudor and craftsman-style houses, may soon become known for the modern designed houses of this new millennium.  With space being in high demand, yet lots still being contained by existing houses and structures (not to mention the trees!), architects have challenged themselves to create the modern look for Queen Anne complete with large windows and views, high ceilings, minimalist interiors, and grand landscaping.

An example of modern architecture can be seen this Sunday, October 5th from 1-4 pm on 10th Ave. West.  Check www. QueenAnneModern.com for more information.