There’s not much to this short editorial in today’s Seattle P-I that follows up on last Friday’s “Seattle not in a bubble” story. It’s nothing though if not good for a short laugh:
A Post-Intelligencer headline a few days ago reinforces a common narrative: “Seattle may escape housing bubble.” The cost of a home may be a problem for much of the country, but not here. We’re special. We don’t need to worry.
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But there’s one scenario that ought to be considered: What if it’s the Easy Credit Bubble that just popped? Will Seattle escape that, too?
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Gross says the economy will weaken when the “house ATM starts running out of fresh new $25,000-$50,000-$100,000 home equity loan dollar bills.”That’s why we will escape the bubble here in Seattle. We’ve been using the decade-long housing boom to build individual equity, instead of cashing out or borrowing to the hilt. Right?
Yes, I am so sure that for some unexplainable reason, Seattle residents are much more fiscally responsible than people everywhere else in the country. Few if any of them have taken equity out of their homes. Right.
(P-I Editorial Board, Seattle P-I, 10.05.2005)