Seattle Bubble

Even when we have direct access to the hard facts of the local real estate market, it’s still fun to see what kind of spin the local papers put into their report of the data. So, it is time yet again to continue our monthly tradition of rounding up all the local “mainstream” articles [...]

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This month’s theme is “let’s scare fence-sitters by telling them that rising interest rates will eliminate any savings from falling home prices.” Let’s see how well our local papers do at driving this point home.
Read on for the this month’s roundup…

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Before we begin May’s reporting roundup, let’s have a little review of the year so far.
January
Barb Lamoureux, owner and broker with Lamoureux Real Estate in Everett, said the typical slow December market is over. She’s seen signs the market is picking up, including a significant increase in open house traffic and even some multiple offers [...]

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Yesterday I predicted that the local reporting would focus on the paltry month-to-month median price increase, backed up by a plethora of quotes from peppy real estate agents. Today’s reporting, for the most part, does not disappoint.
I’m starting to get the impression as I read some of these articles that the reporters are just [...]

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Yesterday’s Tacoma News Tribune had an article about new construction in outlying areas, which is becoming front line of the Puget Sound housing bust. In short: it ain’t pretty for builders.
Facing fewer buyers and many, many homes for sale, South Sound builders are pulling back and getting extra promotional.
Builders have slowed construction schedules in [...]

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I would have posted the reporting roundup on Saturday, but I was out of town for the weekend, and my only Internet access was dial-up (*shudder*). The tone of this month’s reporting isn’t too much different from last month, except that we’ve got a small dose of optimism thanks to a slight spring improvement. [...]

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