local real estate news, statistics, and commentary without the sales spin.
It was recently requested that I take a refreshed look at the affordability stats, so here’s an updated look at our affordability index charts for the counties around Puget Sound.
As of May, affordability is still not great for home buyers, but it would be much, much worse if not for the current absurdly low interest rates.
May market stats were published by the NWMLS yesterday.
Pending sales of single-family homes in King County hit an all-time high in May. This does not bode well for buyers hoping for any sort of relief from stiff competition and fast-rising prices. Inventory did increase month-over-month, but barely.
This post is a little tardy, but I wanted to make sure these charts were posted nonetheless. I’ll post yesterday’s NWMLS numbers a little later this morning. First up, here’s the snapshot of all the data as far back as my historical information goes, with the latest, high, and low values highlighted for each series:…
Let’s have a look at the latest data from the Case-Shiller Home Price Index. According to March data that was released today, Seattle-area home prices were: Up 2.4 percent February to March Up 10.8 percent YOY. Up 0.4 percent from the July 2007 peak Over the same period last year prices were up 2.3 percent…
A few weeks ago Stranger writer Charles Mudede published a post in which he argued that “Seattle Is Pretty Much Game Over” in terms of housing affordability. There was a time when something could have been done to avoid its entry into the locked cycle of asset value inflation, but that was a few years…