To close out the week, let’s take an updated look at a couple of factors that are continuing to drag the local housing market down: unemployment and foreclosures. From 1990 through 2006, the average unemployment rate in King County was 4.9%. The unemployment rate is currently 7.9% (61% higher than the 1990-2006 average). Over that…
Category: Statistics
Statistics, number-based analysis, etc.
Big Picture 2011: Price to Income Ratio
Okay, let’s have a look at how local home prices compare to local incomes. This is basically the same thing we’re looking at when we talk about affordability, but with interest rates taken completely out of the picture. First, let’s check out the ratio between home prices and King County median household income data from…
Big Picture 2011: Price to Rent Ratio
Big Picture Week 2011 continues with an updated look at Seattle’s price to rent ratio. Here’s our chart of single-family home prices divided by annual rent: Another chart with dramatic improvement since last year’s Big Picture Week. When last we checked in on this measure (June 2010 data), the ratio was 20% above its 1990-2001…
Big Picture 2011: Examining Home Affordability
Let’s have another look at home affordability in King County. First up, the affordability index. The affordability index is based on three factors: median single-family home price as reported by the NWMLS, 30-year monthly mortgage rates as reported by the Federal Reserve, and estimated median household income as reported by the Washington State Office of…
Big Picture 2011: Case-Shiller HPI Rate of Increase
It’s time for another Big Picture Week on Seattle Bubble, in which we’ll examine a number of local home price factors and economic fundamentals from a higher level than we usually do. By eschewing our usual focus on month to month changes and taking a step back to look at trends over the last few…