Seattle Bubble

The stories have been piling up in my inbox at a faster rate than I’ve been able to post them lately, so that means that it is time for another bubble link roundup. I’ve got a lot of ground to cover in this post, and I don’t want to totally clutter up the front page, so click below to read the entire post.

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This is the last post in this impromptu series. There were just so many articles out there full of “expert” quotes and predictions about the Puget Sound’s economic outlook for 2007. Here are three more articles that discuss the interaction of the local housing market with the greater local economic picture. Surprisingly, the housing affordability elephant in the room is actually not completely ignored:

The Good Ride Continues in 2007
Because of relatively high rates of in-migration and household formation, the regional housing market will continue to do better than its national counterpart in 2007 and 2008.

Dick Conway, (Washington CEO)

2007: A Sound economic picture
The one sector no one sees much of a lift from is housing, either in new-home construction or resale activity and prices. Pedersen says in-migration and employment growth are counterbalanced by the deterioration of affordability.

Bill Virgin, (Seattle P-I)

Area’s solid economy vulnerable to cracks showing up elsewhere
So even if the local real-estate market holds up better than its national counterpart, “if the U.S. housing market pulls the country into a recession, then we have a problem,” Conway said.

Drew DeSilver, (Seattle Times)

I’m keeping this post short because I’ve said about all I feel like saying on the topic for now. We’ll see how things pan out.