Ballard

Median Sale Price $760k  •  Sale Price Change YoY 15.9%  •  Homes Sold in 2017 870  •  Median Rent $2,296  •  Walk Score 87  •  Transit Score 51

 

Just off the Lake Washington Ship Canal, the bustling City of Ballard sprouted a century ago from these marinas and fishermen’s terminals. Now its stretch of trendy boutiques and restaurants rivals the shopping and nightlife scenes anywhere else in Seattle. But the busy southern end of this increasingly popular neighborhood is just the front door, so to speak. New condominium developments give way to older apartment dwellings and then, as you go farther north, quiet single-family neighborhoods, peppered here and there with community parks and surprising pockets of bars and restaurants a bit more low key than the weekender favorite Ballard Ave. Travel west and, suddenly, a beach! Bonfires and kite surfers fill Golden Gardens every year as soon as the sun cooperates. It’s no wonder many residents want to again recognize Ballard as its own city.