Maybe the Home builders will use seattle as their “last chance stop” and keep building here right through the bitter end?

we can only hope.

Unfortunately, I agree. Seattle is too far into the current cycle to support this many new units. If these had broken ground in 2003 this would be a different story. However, it looks like the majority of these units are going to be (or would have been) on the market at about the time when everyone believes that RE is an underperforming asset.

I think it’s really unfortunate since this type of urban density is exactly what is needed to revitalize downtown and provide an attractive alternative to commuting.

FYI, I ride an electrically-assisted bicycle to work and many other places, and I’m in great shape. Also, I never said that wanting a condo was crazy or foolish. Chill out, dude.

I agree that Vancouver has a lot more condos, but did you notice they all look alike?

Man, I can’t WAIT to get back up to Vancouver so I can go to Robson Street! :P

Acres for sale at 45k in Leilani Estates and elsewhere on the Big Island, Hilo side. Yes, if you paid 12k, that’s still a nice profit. The house market hasn’t fallen as much, but very little is selling and inventory is piling up. Only one house in my subdivision has sold in 2006, while six houses are for sale. If 3 sell this year, we’ve still got a 2 year supply. Of the six, two are vacant (one is spec and the other resident died).

I am just happy I bought into this crazy market when I did.

By the way, most of us Vancouverites have an affinity for Seattle… it’s like our sister!

Brings up an interesting point. Is the bubble half empty or half full. From 1 year ago, sure, prices dropped significantly. Call it a crash if you want. On the other hand, she realized a 40% gain on investment. I think the same can be said about Seattle’s market as well.

ex-canuck…I’ll be the first to say Seattle can’t match the West End. One important element the West End has are families and schools. From the article, it doesn’t sound like that’s going to happen here. Also, weren’t most of the land by False Creek owned by the city and sold to developers rather inexpensively to facilitate building those highrises? But, at least our buildings will start looking like Vancouver’s since a number of them will be built by Vancouver developers.

So the question is: if the housing bubble busts and we get a housing downturn in the PNW (and maybe also a national recession) – what will happen with the cost of building a house vs buying an existing house? Also, what will happen to the price of land (if you can find any)?

I would think that if we get a recession, particularly a global recession led by a downturn in US consumption, that demand for building materials would decrease and prices would have to fall when fewer construction projects are started. I would think the same thing would happen to land although I don’t know whether land would fall less or more than existing house values. I would also think that labor costs might fall some with less work available.

I’m curious if others have any insight?s