Kitsap Real Estate Blog

Bremerton real estate bears watching. Bremerton is a growing community in Kitsap County real estate. With a population of 34,580 people in 2005 Bremerton has historically been the urban center of rural Kitsap County real estate.

Due primarily to military deployments Bremerton actually lost population from 2004 to 2005. Despite the loss of population average home sale prices for Bremerton Wa real estate rose dramatically with an average gain of about 16% for 2006. That could be due in part to the fact that Kitsap county ranked 7th in the state for family income at $51,982 in 2005. Kitsap County as a whole ranked the lowest for population growth of the six counties including Kitsap, King, Snohomish, Pierce, Mason and Jefferson in 2006.

Bremerton plays a larger role in the economy of the county because it is the site of the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and a homeport for several U.S. Navy ships. With over 13,000 civilian employees plans for the shipyard and homeport affect the economic outlook for the entire Kitsap County. During World War II employment at the shipyard grew to over 80,000 people. Housing was scarce and much of the housing stock in existence today was constructed with orders from the military. Much of that older housing stock was actually pretty good quality but today many real estate investors and homeowners are buying Bremerton Washington houses on developed lots to tear them down and re-build.

The State of Washington recently reported strong growth in the construction and services sector which partially offset osses at the shipyard due to a re-organization of the mix of activities conducted there. While is has slowed from that torrid pace average Bremerton Washington houses average sale prices may rise 5-8% again in 2007, particulary because of the successful development of Bremerton condos along the waterfront. That combined with massive public investment in the ferry-Kitsap Transit intermodal development, government office buildings, a waterfront park and convention center, marinas, hotels and street retail has everyone buzzing about the bright future of Bremerton. Some of those people working in the more than 130,000 jobs in downtwon Seattle, only half of whom living in the city own their homes, might well be attracted to lower cost housing in a newly developed exciting small urban center less than an hour commute away by water. Forward looking people investing in real estate might well see many opportunities with a move to Bremerton as an attractive Seattle area real estate alternative.