The article is clearly about in-close real estate. Look at the end of first paragraph:

“If you’re not one of them — as in you can’t afford a home or condo close in — it seems hard to believe that there are enough folks who can afford to live in town to sustain the prices. But there are.”

Vague? That is hardly vague. The rest of the piece goes on to discuss these in-close properties and why the prices remain high.

Sorry Mister Bubble, but you either don’t want to understand this simple article, or aren’t capable of it. Or maybe both. Sad.

No she isn’t. She mentions people wanting to “live near where they work,” and then talks about “folks who can afford to live in town.” There is no mention of location beyond these vague terms, so discussion of rising inventory in King County is certainly relevant to the discussion.

“it is strange how so many commenters on this blog put words in the mouths of journalists”

Indeed.

“i believe the article is simply saying that there is no sign of a bust in the neighborhoods close-in to downtown, even though these are among the most expensive properties.”

You believe wrong. Her blog post simply asserts that low office vacancy translates to high residential demand downtown. She also repeats the specious argument that there “has” to be a rise in inventory to see a drop in prices — an argument that has been debunked on this very blog several times before.

I don’t care if it’s next to Pikes Market… the RE boom is over

i don’t believe the article is saying anything about a boom downtown, and where did you get the 30% yoy figure? it is strange how so many commenters on this blog put words in the mouths of journalists — – and then scoff at those claims as if somebody had actually made them! like i said before, respond to what she actually writes. if what she says is wrong, say why. but you look ridiculous when you says she is making claims that she never makes! i believe the article is simply saying that there is no sign of a bust in the neighborhoods close-in to downtown, even though these are among the most expensive properties. if you have some data that disproves it, i’d be very open to that, but i haven’t seen this data yet.

so next year, downtown will see a 30% yoy appreciation while the rest of seattle stays flat…

interesting… maybe I should buy one of those unfinished condos and flip it then…

I don’t care if it’s next to Pikes Market… the RE boom is over

Folks, at least read carefully enough to respond to what she’s actually saying — she is talking about housing close to downtown, not the whole county or region!

Down here in “prime” coastal CA the press was saying basically the same thing–but now the market’s tanked, with prices clearly heading south. You hear far fewer people quoting the papers now.

I talked to an aunt who is upside down on a loan convincing her to find a way out and she chimes… well the seattle PI just put out an article that seattle prices will keep going up this year… I’ll just wait…

It was at that point I just kept my mouth shut…

I also heard that prices were suppressed at the height of driving season by Congress borrowing around $19B and giving it to the oil companies. No link I’m afraid, so maybe it’s a conspiracy theory. If anyone else knows about it I’d certainly appreciate the information.

Last I heard we were still ~ 6,000 jobs short of the dot com peak. (If anyone has updated figures, please post.) Even if we’ve caught up in job numbers, I doubt we’ve replaced all those $100K+ incomes for 21yo e-business consultants and other new economy gurus.

But, as Goebbels knew, repeat something often enough and the herd will eventually accept it as fact.

Sure there are! After all, it’s a class war…the rich are eating the city! Soon there will be nothing for a poor suburban serf to do but move to Wenatchee (or farm turnips for a Microsoft millionaire in some Belltown p-patch).

Here’s an idea, Sooz: instead of assuming that the people who buy Belltown economy studios for $500 per square foot are smart and rich, consider that they’re probably scared, poor and in debt up to their eyelids — you might have a better idea of what’s actually going on.

Buyers can hold off for years, some sellers can’t.
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OT: If we have to login, can’t you get rid of the “word verification”?

6/30: 11,415
7/31: 12,172
8/31: 12,933
9/28: 14,196

has picked up substantially in September over the previous 2 months.

And no one in the media is looking at Septemeber numbers yet.. and won’t until the MLS releases their September data in Oct.

I hear people say this all the time, but it’s never quantified.

Does anyone have data that proves or disproves the “strong seattle economy”?

People see what they want to see. I think it’s been an ongoing theme for hundreds of years for people and economists to simply look at the immediate impact of an event, rather than to study the WHOLE; the history, future implications, and all other possible factors surrouding the event.

Don’t worry about that, Susan. Inventory is soaring (about 32% YoY), and shows no signs of abating.

Everyone keeps pointing to the mythical “strength of the economy”. Am I the only one who looks beyond headlines trumpeting one measley sales increase to note that YoY sales are dropping like a rock, as are national median RE prices? Leading economic indicators are down. RE Sales are down. Companies are whispering about missing Q3 profit goals. Inventory is building. Paul Volcker (the only decent Fed chief in the last 40 years) is concerned about inflation creep. The dollar has dropped (no doubt as a result of recent oil fixes thanks to the GSCI scam).

What about this sounds good for the economy?