Seattle Bubble

What’s to blame for the Seattle area’s out of control housing prices? If you read the local papers, you’ll hear all kinds of reasons. Booming local economy, running out of land, super-extra desirable climate, Microsoft/Boeing, you name it, they’ve claimed it (almost). The latest scapegoat: local zoning.
“Local zoning is the No. 1 [...]

[Read more →]

For those that continue to insist that home prices around Seattle are high because “supply isn’t keeping up with demand,” I would like to point out the 2007 King County Buildable Lands Report.
This is what the report has to say about building activity in King County from 2001 through 2005:

King County gained more than 49,000 [...]

[Read more →]

From above the fold on today’s Seattle Times front page:

Click to view pdf
How soon do you suppose we can expect an article explicitly making the claim that is subtly implied by this headline / photo combo? Let’s play “predict the headline.” Here’s my guess: Soaring Loonie Strengthens Seattle Real Estate. Of course, [...]

[Read more →]

FYI, Seattle P-I real estate reporter Aubrey Cohen has entered the blogging fray. Check out his new P-I-sponsored blog: Seattle Real Estate News.
Such a creative name. (I kid, I kid.)
Seriously though, I applaud Aubrey for engaging the readers in the more open, discussion-oriented format that blogging provides. Hopefully he will get some [...]

[Read more →]

A thought (actually I LOL) just popped into my brain moments ago after reading all the quotes and comments over the last few weeks both here and at Rain City Guide, particularly since mid August when the liquidity crisis hit. This is meant to have fun on the Blog a bit, but I’m [...]

[Read more →]

Let’s have a little economic review, shall we?
Early 2006 — We were told by “economists” that all is well in the housing market, and we were just headed for a soft landing. Definitely zero risk to the economy.
January 27, 2006“All the hype about the housing market falling apart is exaggerated,” Tim Rogers, Boston-based chief [...]

[Read more →]