Seattle Bubble

The battle over proposed changes in the real estate excise tax is heating up, and depending on which side you listen to, the change would either drive prices up, or drive prices down.
The Washington Association of Realtors has launched a $1 million campaign aimed at squashing a proposed tax increase on real-estate sales.
“We are committed [...]

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Seattle is a good place to put your money if you want to invest in apartments, or at least so says the Center for Real Estate Studies:
The Seattle area has been ranked No. 10 on a list of the nation’s top markets for apartment investing.
The Center for Real Estate Studies bases its ranking on forecasts [...]

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While the median price of Seattle-area homes has skyrocketed and the number of active listings on the market has decreased, the number of realtors out there trying to sell them has surged in recent years:
The nation’s sizzling housing market has attracted droves of home buyers, but it has also drawn many who are looking to [...]

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Thanks again to a faithful reader for pointing out an article that slipped under my radar during the holiday. The Seattle Times reports on the growing costs of housing in the Seattle area, and how many people are being priced out of the market:
Despite earning wages higher than the national average, Seattle-area buyers increasingly [...]

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It seems that if not for the real estate bubble, the Seattle Times would have continued their recent in-the-red streak:
The Seattle Times Co. has posted a $24 million one-time gain on its books from the June 2004 sale of 6 acres of South Lake Union real estate.…In January, Times Co. officials said their Seattle paper [...]

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The city of Seattle is considering a proposal that could ever so slightly ease the financial pain that come with soaring housing costs by allowing detached rental apartments in single-family-zoned neighborhoods:
…detached rental apartments and backyard cottages have long been outlawed in Seattle’s traditional single-family neighborhoods. Some have worried they’ll cause parking problems, erode neighbors’ privacy [...]

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