There’s nothing quite like optimism:
Despite soaring home prices here, the greater Seattle area is likely not facing a housing bubble, a new study indicates.
The study they’re referring to was reported earlier in the week. Though Seattle did not reach the arbitrary “30% overvalued” threshold for being “vulnerable to price correction,” it still ranked #86 out of the 299 cities listed, coming in at 20% overvalued.
The Seattle area housing market had the 86th highest valuation of the 299 markets surveyed, with average home prices only 20 percent higher than the report’s estimate of what they should be worth.
Heh, “only” 20 percent.
None of the housing markets in Washington state that were included in the report — Seattle, Tacoma, Bremerton, Bellingham, Longview, Yakima and Spokane — have had a price correction in the past 20 years, according to the report.
So that means we’re immune! Hurrah, lucky us! Yes, I’m being sarcastic. One thing the article fails to mention is that never in the past 20 years have lending standards been so loose and personal savings so low. I think we’re in a precarious position that is largely being ignored by the local media. But hey, I could be wrong.
(Clayton Park, King County Journal, 08.19.2005)