Seattle Bubble

Remember about four months ago, when NAR Chief “Economist” Lawrence Yun said this?
You may even say Seattle is underpriced if you believe Seattle is becoming a superstar city. Seattle is underpriced in relation to other West Coast markets.
Well, it seems he has changed his tune ever so slightly. Here’s a more recent quote, from [...]

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A couple people pointed out a piece in the Wall Street Journal yesterday titled The Housing Crisis Is Over. I don’t doubt that the mere fact that it was printed in the WSJ makes it gospel to some folks. I am not interested in writing a rebuttal to this piece, as that has [...]

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Speaking of the economy, here’s a headline I never expected to see in The Seattle Times, let alone above the fold on the front page of the Sunday paper:

I guess this is a surprising discovery for some people—something that is considered big news. Here are some choice excerpts from the article:
“If things get really [...]

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Apparently the only necessarily qualification for becoming a “world class” or “superstar” city is to keep on repeating that it is so. That’s the message I’m getting from the latest quotes from the Realtor’s spokesman Lawrence Yun, anyway.
Seattle-area home prices are manageable for typical workers, according to the chief economist for the National Association [...]

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Seattle got a little bit of attention in a recent Wall Street Journal story titled Housing Slump Starts to Hit Stronger Cities:
It’s getting harder to hide from the housing bust.
Tight credit, fragile consumer confidence and a weakening economy are slowing sales and depressing prices even in some places — such as the Pacific Northwest and [...]

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Theory: Seattle is special, and thanks to our strong local economy anchored by such heavyweights as Boeing and Microsoft, any economic or housing pain will affect us far less than other parts of the country.
Reality:

Conclusion: Er… Um… Jobs! Population Growth! Mountains! Lakes! Pretty Pretty Pink Ponies!
We now return you to [...]

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