Seattle Neighborhoods: Green Lake

Green Lake real estate may not have the panoramic views of the Puget Sound and Olympic Mountains that Ballard and Magnolia have, but as the name suggests, it does have something that creates lake-envy in other neighborhoods. What’s more, instead a bunch of private homes built on its shores, hogging it for themselves, the lake is surrounded by a very (no exaggeration) popular public park. Green Lake homes are highly sought after, particularly when they have a view of the water.

The lake is surrounded by grass, a 2.8 mile paved trail, tennis courts, a running track, a pitch ‘n’ putt course, a theatre, baseball diamonds, soccer fields, the Seattle Zoo to the south and of course, throngs of humanity. Bad weather is no deterrent to endorphin junkies of varying stamina, shape and size. There are solo joggers, teams of joggers, joggers with dogs and / or prams, joggers with the latest in fabric fashion technology and unfortunately an occasional jogger with those really short shorts form the 70’s! In fact, if you see a jogger within 10 blocks of the lake, they are either going there or leaving the lake. You don’t have to be a jogger to live In Green Lake, but it doesn’t hurt.

Green Lake is bordered by Phinney Ridge and Greenwood to the west, Fremont and Wallingford to the south, Ravenna to the east and Northgate to the north. Back in 1911, as part of Seattle’s beautification project, the lake was lowered by 7 feet to increase the shoreline. Up that that time, the lake drained into Lake Washington via Ravenna Creek, which subsequently dried up and became what is now Ravenna Boulevard. It was cosmetic surgery gone wrong. The lake became stagnant and foul smelling with frequent algae blooms and in later years, pollution from heavy industry bordering the lake. Over the past few decades, public and government intervention have cleaning up the lake and it now looks a lot better now than it must have back in the good old days.

Green Lake Real Estate

 As with much of North Seattle, Green Lake properties are dominated by older single family homes including Tudors, bungalows with wrap around porches and colonials. There is a wide price range but one thing is certain, the closer you are to the lake, you’ll pay a premium relative to a comparable home further away.

Green lake real estate has seen increasing numbers of condo and townhome developments which has made living there more affordable for many first time buyers who would be priced out of the Green Lake house market. As with other Seattle neighborhoods, the recession has slowed much of the new construction frenzy which explains why the old Vitamilk Dairy site now is a just a large fenced-off hole in the ground.

Please see the tables below for data on Green Lake home sales, which will give you an overview of how this neighborhood is priced.

Median* home prices for Green Lake single family homes, Green Lake townhomes and Green Lake condos that sold over last six months of 2009 (data will be updated quarterly).

*Where median price is the price at which half the homes sold for below that price and half the homes sold for above that price

Price ranges for Green Lake single family homes, Green Lake condos and Green Lake townhomes for the last six months of 2009 (will be updated quarterly).

If you would like more information or have any questions regarding Green Lake real estate, please contact a Green Lake real estate agent.

Green Lake Real Estate Map

Best of Green Lake