Renton Townhomes: Highlands and Talbot Hill Buyer Guide

Renton townhomes are two different kinds of property that look the same from the street. Some sit on their own small lot, which the buyer owns outright. Others are condominium units built in a townhouse shape, where the buyer owns the inside of the unit and a share of everything else. On September 30, 2026, Redfin showed 31 townhouses for sale under a Renton address at a median asking price of about $583,000, and the listings rarely tell you which kind you are looking at. This guide walks through the townhome communities in the Highlands and on Talbot Hill, what they are listing and selling for this fall, and how to tell the two ownership types apart before you write an offer.

At The Rache Team we have guided Renton families for more than 26 years, and townhome buyers tend to compare monthly dues first. That comparison only works once you know what kind of townhome each one is, because a $125 fee and a $735 fee are often paying for very different things. Every figure below comes from listings and closings we pulled from Redfin’s MLS-based data on September 30, 2026, with a street address for each community so you can check it yourself.

Two Kinds of Renton Townhomes

The word townhome describes a building shape: attached homes, usually two or three stories, each with its own front door and often its own garage. It says nothing about what you own. In Renton the attached homes on the market fall into two legal forms.

• Townhome on a unit lot. The buyer owns the structure and the small lot under it. Renton creates these through its unit lot subdivision rules in RMC 4-7-090. On Redfin, the tell is a lot size on the listing, often 1,200 to 3,500 square feet.
• Townhome-style condominium. The buyer owns the unit, and the land and exterior are owned in common through the condominium association. On Redfin these usually show no lot size, and the listing or the association documents say condominium.

The distinction matters less than you might think on maintenance and more than you might think on paperwork. Renton’s unit lot code requires the land that is not part of an individual lot to be owned in common or by a homeowners’ association, and it says all “exterior building facades and roofs” and common facilities “shall be maintained in perpetuity by the homeowners’ association, unless otherwise agreed to by the City.” So in a community platted under this section, the association handles the roof and siding even though you own the lot. The same section states that individual unit lots “are not separate building sites,” so the lot does not give you a buildable parcel of your own. Older communities were platted under earlier rules, and their recorded covenants set the split.

Where the two forms really split is in which state law governs the association and what disclosure you receive, which we cover below.

Renton Townhomes in the Highlands

The Highlands plateau holds most of the townhome inventory in the neighborhoods we cover, spread across three eras: 1980s and 1990s condo communities, a 2004 to 2015 wave of townhomes on their own lots, and new construction in the Sunset corridor. For the wider neighborhood picture, see our Renton Highlands home prices snapshot.

Towns on 12th, Tacoma Ct NE

Towns on 12th is a D.R. Horton community of 88 homes off NE 12th St, with floor plans from 1,189 to 1,697 square feet. On September 30 the listings ran from $599,995 for a 1,189 square foot two-bedroom (1311 Tacoma Ct NE #29, reduced in late September) to $704,995 for a 1,679 square foot four-bedroom, with to-be-built plans up to $729,995. One of the 1,189 square foot homes, 1232 Tacoma Ct NE #15, closed at $649,995 in the last three months. The current listing shows dues of $395 a month. Our Sunset corridor new construction guide covers the community in detail. Note that the entry price has come down since we wrote it: the same 1,189 square foot plan was listed at $654,995 then.

Chelan Ave NE and Bremerton Ave NE, built 2015

This cluster near NE 4th St is the clearest example of townhomes on their own lots. 347 Chelan Ave NE, a 1,910 square foot three-bedroom on a 3,404 square foot lot, closed at $750,000, and its neighbor at 348 Chelan Ave NE, 1,800 square feet, closed at $654,000. Two more are listed: 314 Chelan Ave NE at $638,000 (1,520 square feet, 2,285 square foot lot, described as zero lot line) and 314 Bremerton Ave NE at $656,500 (1,430 square feet, 1,569 square foot lot). Both listings show dues of $125 a month.

Cobblestone and Elma Pl NE

Cobblestone, at 442 Tacoma Pl NE, was built in 2004 on a 1,273 square foot lot and shows dues of $180 a month. The 1,410 square foot two-bedroom there was priced at $589,950 in September 2025 and at $559,950 on September 30, 2026, after several reductions. More than a year of listing history is useful information when you write an offer. Nearby, 511 Elma Pl NE, a 1999 townhome on a 2,209 square foot lot in a gated community, closed at $597,000 for 1,310 square feet.

Townhome-style condos across the plateau

Most of the remaining Highlands inventory is condominiums built as townhouses, largely from the 1980s and 1990s, and this is where the lower prices are. None of these listings shows a lot size, so confirm the form for each one:

• 1555 Union Ave NE (1980, 68 units): a 1,035 square foot two-bedroom closed at $332,000; a 1,129 square foot unit is listed at $350,000 with dues of $735.
• Hyde Park, 2300 Jefferson Ave NE (1997): a 1,170 square foot two-bedroom closed at $399,950.
• 3800 NE Sunset Blvd (1994, 27 units): a 1,063 square foot two-bedroom is listed at $415,000, dues $546.
• Peachtree Lane, 608 Chelan Pl NE (1996): a 1,310 square foot two-bedroom closed at $475,000.
• 459 Queen Ave NE: a 1,392 square foot two-bedroom is listed at $499,950, dues $445.
• 4201 NE 5th St (1984): a 1,370 square foot three-bedroom closed at $500,000.
• 4020 NE 3rd Pl (2014, 7 units): a 2,147 square foot three-bedroom end unit is listed at $599,000, dues $451.

For the flat-style buildings in the same part of town, see our Renton condos guide.

Renton Townhomes on Talbot Hill

Talbot Hill’s townhome inventory sits along Talbot Rd S and the streets off it, in communities from the 1990s and 2000s. Our Talbot Hill home prices snapshot has the neighborhood-wide numbers.

• Campen Springs (2004, gated, 144 units, with a clubhouse and exercise room): two three-bedroom townhome-style condos are listed, 4769 Whitworth Ave S at $549,900 for 1,824 square feet and 4811 Shattuck Pl S at $539,950 for 1,844 square feet. Both show dues of $489.
• 441 S 51st Ct (1995): a 1,660 square foot two-bedroom with a loft, on a 2,748 square foot lot, closed at $515,000.
• 5007 Lake Pl S: a 1,593 square foot three-bedroom condo townhome closed at $585,000.
• 500 S 46th Pl: a 1,599 square foot two-bedroom condo townhome closed at $480,000.

One detail to check on Talbot Hill: the Campen Springs and S 51st Ct listings name Benson Hill Elementary as the assigned school, not Talbot Hill Elementary. School lines do not follow neighborhood names, so confirm the assignment for the exact address with Renton School District.

Earlington, North Renton and The Landing

The west and north sides of our area have very few townhomes. In the last three months, one closed on Earlington Hill: a 1,123 square foot three-bedroom condo townhome at 833 SW Sunset Blvd sold for $318,500, the lowest townhome price in this guide. Our Earlington neighborhood guide covers the area.

We found no townhomes for sale in North Renton or at The Landing on September 30. Buyers who want to live near the lake at that end of the city are usually looking at condos or detached houses instead, and a search there should say so up front rather than wait on townhome inventory that rarely appears.

What the Dues on Renton Townhomes Pay For

The dues in this guide ran from $125 to $735 a month. In this set, townhomes on their own lots showed $125 to $180, and townhome-style condos showed $445 to $735, with the new Towns on 12th community at $395. A lower number is not automatically a better deal. It usually reflects an association that is doing less, holding less in reserves, or both.

For each townhome you are serious about, ask three questions:

1. What does the association maintain? Roofs, siding, paint, fences, landscaping, private drives and water or sewer lines are the usual items. Renton’s unit lot code puts facades and roofs on the association unless the City agreed otherwise, so a $125 fee should be checked against what the association is responsible for.
2. What does the association insure? A condominium association typically carries a master policy on the buildings. Townhome associations vary. Your insurance agent needs the answer before you can price your own policy.
3. How much is in reserves, and is there a current reserve study? Underfunded reserves usually turn into a special assessment later.

The Documents Behind Renton Townhomes

Which state law governs the association depends on the legal form and the year the community was created. That decides what disclosure you are entitled to.

• Condominium created before July 1, 2018 (most of the townhome-style condos above): the resale certificate under RCW 64.34.425. The association must furnish it within 10 days of the seller’s request, and the buyer’s contract is voidable until the certificate is provided and for five days afterward, or until closing, whichever comes first. This section also reaches condominiums created before 1990, like the 1980 and 1984 communities above.
• Any common interest community created on or after July 1, 2018, condominium or not: the resale certificate under RCW 64.90.640, with a cancellation right of five business days after the buyer first receives it.
• Townhomes on unit lots in an association created before July 1, 2018 (the 1999, 2004 and 2015 communities above): the homeowners’ association statute, chapter 64.38 RCW. It has no resale certificate section. It does require annual financial statements and a long list of retained records, and it calls for a reserve study for associations with significant assets unless that would be an unreasonable hardship. Ask the seller for the budget, the latest financial statement, the reserve study, recent board minutes and the recorded covenants, and make your offer contingent on reviewing them.

Chapters 64.34 and 64.38 are both repealed effective January 1, 2028, when the newer Washington Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act becomes the single framework. Until then, confirm which statute applies to the specific community, and bring questions about an association’s rights and obligations to an attorney.

How We Shop Renton Townhomes With Buyers

1. Identify the legal form first. Check the listing’s lot size, then the recorded plat or condominium declaration. It changes the documents you will receive and how you compare dues.
2. Compare inside the same form. In the Highlands this fall, townhomes on their own lots closed from $597,000 to $750,000 and townhome-style condos from $332,000 to $500,000. Comparing across the two lanes makes one look expensive and the other look cheap.
3. Price from the same community. Closings like 347 and 348 Chelan Ave NE, 110 square feet apart in size and $96,000 apart in price, tell you more than a citywide median.
4. Read the listing history. A home with more than a year of listing history, like the Cobblestone townhome, or a new-construction price cut, like Towns on 12th #29, gives you room to negotiate.
5. Bring your agent on the first builder visit. New-construction sales offices generally require your broker to be registered at your first visit.
6. Read the association documents inside the contract window. Reserves, approved projects and pending special assessments are where the risk shows up.