http://www.burbed.com/2006/03/29/cheapest-condo-in-santa-clara-county/

How does increased density lead to homelessness?

Projections?!?? Hard to predict much with the world scene changing as fast as it is.

The US economy is perfectly poised to take a major hit.

We’ll know better by Fall what our future will look like.

Just because the developer is selling 400K townhomes doesn’t mean these will always be 400K townhomes. Once the speculation is out of the market, these may easily be 200K townhomes.

Thinking longer term, this is a good reason to embrace growth/density even if the new units are originally priced high.

One of the big white elephants in the room is that Seattle’s population is growing, yes. BUT, the population here is highly mobile. There are a lot of tech workers and college students here; those are the two most mobile social populations in the country. Many people move here for work (or school) and pad their resume for what it’s worth, and then they move on.

The truth is: people move here and leave just as fast as they came. And there are all sorts of reasons for this, but what it amounts to is that the rental population has not changed significantly — it just shifts. Meanwhile, the supply of rentals also shifts … apartment buildings are converting to condos but there is still a pretty large number of vacancies (and a large number of houseshares and MILs and other “unchecked inventory).

I paid less than $1000 for a 2 bd in Seattle four years ago, and I’m still paying less than $1000 for a 2 bd today. I suspect that I’m not the only one who has not had a rent increase.

2.7% in 2005, 4.6% in 2006 – projections are for another 4.6% in 2007.