3 months, 2 sales, 1 huge tax windfall

[meshugy]

Six buildings in Seattle changed hands twice, including the Columbia Center — which alone is bringing in nearly $5 million for the city.

"We've been looking at it and saying, 'Damn!' You really realize how much property is being sold around here," said Seattle City Councilman Richard McIver, who chairs the budget committee.

Real-estate investors have shown they are willing to pay top dollar for Seattle-area office buildings.

Office-vacancy rates are below 10 percent in the central business districts, and asking rents are growing by double digits year over year, signifying a landlord's market.

"We've supersized meals. Now we've supersized deals," said former investment banker Stephen Blank, a senior fellow at the Urban Land Institute in Washington, D.C. "Everyone wants to be in real estate. The returns have been great, and investors view Seattle very positively."

The area's strong housing market also has helped. Although housing markets elsewhere in the U.S. have slowed in the past year, home prices locally are holding up.

The department's forecasters also note in a recent report that "residential sales are projected to cool for 2007 and pick up again for 2008. Condo sales are expected to drop somewhat and then level off."

[Lionel]

The Chinese government last week warned that, due to the poor rent to own ratios, there is a housing bubble at work in China. Congratulatios, Shug, you are now a less reliable source of housing information than the Chinese government.

[uptown]

When the big guys sell (Equity) it's time to move on. I used to have a broker (global) that would sell itself just before the stock market went down, and they had impeccable timing.