Seattle Bubble

Sometimes I can’t help but wonder if the local real estate reporters are being paid to push the “buy now!!!” mentality around here. For example, today’s article which comes right out in the headline and urges us to act fast!
As of March 1, 29 properties were available. Three more were added during the month. [...]

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In a discussion this weekend over at RCG, contributor Galen Ward commented that “Home prices will probably be flat until inflation prices back to ‘normal’ levels.” To which I replied that currently “in King County a family making the median household income has just 45% of the income necessary to afford the median-priced home,” [...]

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Our local real estate blog Rain City Real Estate Guide — by realtors, for realtors (my subtitle, not theirs) tackled the topic of a Seattle bubble today. “Eastside Specialist” Chuck Reiling places himself firmly in the “Microsoft will protect us” camp with his post:
The second kind of bubble, let’s call it Type II, seems [...]

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The Tacoma News-Tribune sheds light on a problem with state law that could become more of an issue as foreclosures become more common in the coming years.
"Opportunity knocks!" proclaimed a real estate handbill about a five-bedroom home on two acres selling for $288,750.
But here is what you won’t find on the advertisement for the property [...]

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P-I Columnist Bill Virgin makes light of the housing situation in today’s column, titled How to rein in housing prices? It’s simple. The thrust of the article is a sarcastic proposal to make it illegal to profit from the sale of a home. However, he makes some interesting claims that I can only assume he’s [...]

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The topic of whether or not our area is somehow immune to a bubble was suggested by a reader. I made a very similar post back in September, but readership and participation has grown quite a bit since then, so now would be a good time to post it again.
As markets across [...]

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