Ballard averages $947,438 and is down 1.1%. Capitol Hill sits at $684,776 and is down 3.3%. Both facts trace to one cause — housing stock — and Ballard's own sub-neighborhoods range from +1.0% to −2.9%.
Ballard costs roughly $263,000 more and is holding value more than three times better. Ballard's typical value averages about $947,438 across its constituent areas against Capitol Hill's $684,776. Year over year, Ballard is down about 1.1%; Capitol Hill is down 3.3%.
Both facts trace to the same cause: housing stock. Capitol Hill's index carries far more condo and apartment inventory, and condos are absorbing Seattle's correction. Ballard is more single-family, and single-family Seattle is close to flat.
| Measure | Capitol Hill | Ballard (avg.) |
|---|---|---|
| Typical home value | $684,776 | $947,438 |
| Year-over-year change | −3.3% | −1.1% |
| Three-month change | −1.7% | −1.6% |
| Gap | — | +$262,662 (+38.4%) |
| Versus city neighborhood median ($819,007) | −16.4% | +15.7% |
Capitol Hill sits below the median Seattle neighborhood value; Ballard sits well above it. For a buyer, Capitol Hill is one of the few relatively central areas priced under the city median.
Zillow's data does not carry a single "Ballard" region. It splits the area into five neighborhoods, which is worth seeing individually because they do not move together.
| Neighborhood | Typical value | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Sunset Hill | $1,217,449 | +1.0% |
| Loyal Heights | $960,476 | +0.1% |
| Whittier Heights | $923,441 | −1.3% |
| West Woodland | $860,541 | −2.6% |
| Adams | $775,282 | −2.9% |
A $442,000 spread inside Ballard, and a range from +1.0% to −2.9%. Sunset Hill and Loyal Heights are rising; Adams and West Woodland are falling nearly as fast as Capitol Hill. "Ballard" as a single number conceals more than it reveals — a caution that applies to any neighborhood average, including the one at the top of this page.
Seattle is not experiencing a uniform correction. Condo-dominant neighborhoods are down 5–7% while single-family neighborhoods sit flat to positive. Capitol Hill and Ballard land on opposite sides of that divide, which explains both the price gap and the performance gap in one stroke.
Capitol Hill is Seattle's densest residential neighborhood, with an index weighted toward condos and apartments. Ballard — particularly Sunset Hill and Loyal Heights — is predominantly single-family. The mechanism is described in full in condo vs. house.
Capitol Hill offers a lower entry price, a central location, and more negotiating room — with the segment still declining. It is the leverage trade.
Ballard offers price stability and, in Sunset Hill and Loyal Heights, actual appreciation — at a 38% premium and with little room to negotiate. It is the stability trade.
Both are defensible. Choose based on holding period and risk tolerance, not on which number looks better in isolation.
| ZIP | Area | Yield | Value | Value YoY | Rent | Rent YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 98122 | Capitol Hill / Madrona | 3.05% | $821,024 | −2.5% | $2,086 | +0.3% |
| 98107 | Ballard | 3.24% | $848,846 | −2.7% | $2,295 | +0.1% |
Nearly identical yields, and both middling for Seattle — well below Belltown's 5.95% and well above Madison Park's 1.99%. Rents in both are essentially flat, so the modest yield widening in each comes from falling values rather than rent growth, which is the weaker of the two reasons. The full yield analysis explains why that distinction matters.
The Ballard figure is an unweighted mean of the five neighborhoods Zillow's data assigns to the area (Sunset Hill, Loyal Heights, Whittier Heights, West Woodland, Adams). It is not a Zillow-published "Ballard" value, and because it is unweighted it does not account for the number of homes in each area. The individual figures above are the more reliable read.
Neighborhood values come from the Zillow Home Value Index at neighborhood granularity, covering single-family homes and condominiums together. The index does not break out property type, so the condo-versus-single-family characterizations here describe the built form of these neighborhoods and are not derived from a property-type split in the data.
Data: Zillow Research, zillow.com/research/data, retrieved September 5, 2026.
Ballard, substantially. Averaged across its five constituent areas in the data, Ballard's typical home value is about $947,438 against Capitol Hill's $684,776 — a gap of roughly $263,000, or 38%. The difference largely reflects housing stock: Capitol Hill's index carries far more condo and apartment inventory, Ballard's more single-family.
Ballard, clearly. Its constituent areas average roughly −1.1% year over year, with Sunset Hill up 1.0% and Loyal Heights up 0.1%. Capitol Hill is down 3.3% — more than three times Ballard's decline. That gap is consistent with the citywide pattern of condo-heavy areas absorbing the correction.
It offers more negotiating leverage than Ballard, for the same reason it is falling faster: a condo-weighted market in a citywide condo correction. Entry prices are roughly $263,000 lower. Whether that is opportunity or risk depends on your holding period — see our condo buyer guide.
Capitol Hill is largely 98122, which yields 3.05% gross with typical value $821,024 (down 2.5%) and rent $2,086 (up 0.3%). Ballard is largely 98107, yielding 3.24% with typical value $848,846 (down 2.7%) and rent $2,295 (up 0.1%). ZIP boundaries do not align to neighborhood boundaries, so ZIP figures differ from neighborhood figures.