Something shifted in Bothell last year. Here's what the data says.

Site Lines by Rami Al-Kabra
What's changing on the Eastside, explained by someone who helps shape it.

Developers noticed something in Bothell last year. Most homeowners didn't.

Early-stage permit requests for residential units topped 1,000 in 2025. Nearly double the five-year average. Land use applications jumped 980% year over year. City staff presented this data publicly at a council meeting in February.

To put that in plain terms: these are the early signals developers file before a shovel hits the ground. Not finished homes. Leading indicators. And Bothell is the clearest example right now, but the same forces are moving across the Eastside.

I was in that room.

I sit on the Bothell City Council and also work in real estate, which puts me in an unusual position: I see the policy decisions that drive market change before most agents do, and I understand what those decisions mean for property owners in practical terms. Not because I have access to anything secret. All of this is public. I just happen to read it closely, and I'm in the room where it gets discussed and decided on. I also follow what neighboring cities are doing, because the Eastside doesn't move in isolation. Bothell, Kirkland, Kenmore, Redmond, Bellevue. The policy shifts tend to ripple.

That's what this newsletter is. Site Lines is where I share what I'm seeing on the Eastside before it becomes obvious. Zoning shifts, building trends, policy signals that tend to move property values before the market catches up. Occasionally rates, macro conditions, whatever else is relevant. Written plainly, sourced carefully, sent roughly once a month when there's something worth saying.

Back to Bothell.

A 980% jump in land use applications isn't noise. It's the direct result of Bothell changing what's allowed to be built. In March 2024, the city passed a law allowing 2 to 4 homes on a single residential lot, depending on how close the property is to a qualifying transit stop, generally within a quarter mile. Parking minimums were eliminated in 2025. That second change matters more than it sounds: requiring dedicated parking spaces adds significant construction cost to any project. Remove that requirement and smaller housing projects that couldn't pencil out financially suddenly can. Those two changes, quietly, made dozens of projects viable that weren't before. Developers noticed.

Bothell is the furthest along, but it's not the only city rewriting the rules. That's a longer conversation for the next few issues.

What does that mean for you? If you own property in Bothell, your neighborhood is going to look different within five to ten years. The shape of that change depends heavily on where your lot sits relative to transit. If you're buying in Bothell, watching permit activity is more useful than watching list prices right now. Prices reflect what already happened. Permits tell you what's coming.

Next issue: the rules on your neighbor's lot have changed across the Eastside. And in some cities, the changes are more surprising than you'd expect.

Sources:

Rami Al-Kabra
Real Estate Broker, eXp Realty
(206) 701-9272
[email protected]