KIRO radio ran a mildly interesting piece about a spec builder in my neighborhood with especially poor timing: Local spec homes sit empty, cheap. What started as a fun project turned into a nightmare for a builder in Kenmore. Ken Youch, with Kenmar Construction, is happy to give tours of any one of the million…
Category: News
News, current events, etc.
Boo-Hoo: Tighter Standards Help Kill Chances of Bubble Returning
I’m starting to sense something of a theme in some recent news pieces about the housing market. Consider the following quotes from two recent articles (emphasis mine). Reuters, June 22: Two U.S. Democratic lawmakers want Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to relax recently tightened standards for mortgages on new condominiums, saying they could threaten the…
Tacoma Luxury Condo Project Headed for Foreclosure
Regular readers may recall this post from last October: Construction Defaults Over 10%, Tacoma Condos Empty. Tacoma News Tribune: Downtown condo sales at a crawl How’s the market for condominiums in downtown Tacoma? “What market?” says Judy Mayfield, head of sales for The Esplanade, the 162-unit project on the Foss Waterway, now nearing completion. After…
Two Recent KUOW Pieces of Note
Thanks to everyone who responded to the call earlier this month from KUOW for help on their story about the soft market. Here’s the resulting piece: It’s a Tenants Market for Downtown Seattle Office Space There may be signs of recovery in the region’s housing market, but not so for the region’s office market. A…
Weekend Roundup: Empty Condos, Story Updates, & a Rosy Forecast
Got a few interesting stories for you today. First up, from the Puget Sound Business Journal: Seattle, Bellevue luxury condominium towers are slow to fill up Three-quarters of the new condos at five major buildings in Seattle and Bellevue are unsold, leaving developers in a high-stakes battle to unload millions of dollars worth of homes….