Here’s a brief roundup of some of this morning’s housing and economic news: Seattle P-I: Boeing profit falls 50 percent on production cuts (AP coverage) Bloomberg: Fannie, Freddie Defaults Rise as Borrowers Cite Lower Income Associated Press: Freddie Mac official found dead in apparent suicide Bloomberg: U.S. Apartment Rents, Occupancies Fall Amid Rise in Job…
Category: News
News, current events, etc.
State Considers Irresponsible Plan to Pre-Distribute $8,000 Tax Credit
According to a post on Aubrey Cohen’s P-I blog Seattle Real Estate News, State may give buyer credit as temporary loan. First-time home buyers would get their $8,000 tax credit as a state loan at closing, under a measure the state Senate Ways and Means Committee approved Wednesday night. The federal government is offering the…
Study: So What if Boeing Does Leave the Puget Sound?
The Puget Sound Business Journal posts today about an interesting study just released by the Washington Alliance for a Competitive Economy: What if Boeing Left Washington? (pdf) The report explores the effects of both an immediate withdrawal of Boeing in 2013 and a 10-year phased withdrawal from 2013 to 2022. In addition to estimating the…
Plummetting Real Estate Excise Tax Revenue Drags on City, State
According to a pair of reports released yesterday, the real estate slowdown is still a serious drag on state and local revenues, thanks to significant sagging in real estate excise tax collections. From the latest state revenue collection report (pdf): Collections [for the March 11, 2009 – April 10, 2009 collection period] were $8.7 million…
Williams Marketing Finally Getting Realistic About the Condo Market
A reader emailed me an interesting little piece of marketing material from an 18-unit complex on the south side of Queen Anne. According to public records The Leona, which is being marketed by the ever-bullish Williams Marketing, has sold a whopping three of their eighteen units to date. Nine of the fifteen unsold units are…