When July’s housing stats came out last week, the most confusing piece of data was that despite skyrocketing local inventory and tightening lending across the nation, the median price still jumped up 2.3% from June, bouncing back into double-digit YOY territory at a 10.6% increase since July 2006. While the local press has their own…
Category: Statistics
Statistics, number-based analysis, etc.
The Mythical Equity Locust
There are many arguments to be had between the Seattle Bubble housing bulls and bears, but one belief that seems to be commonly shared is that one of the primary drivers of demand and pricing in our market is a steady stream of rich Californians moving up and driving prices up. The bulls argue that…
Does Job Growth == Home Buying Demand?
An article in the Times yesterday about the Puget Sound’s job recovery following the dot-com bust got me thinking again about the oft-claimed jobs to home prices correlation. The usual assertion goes something like this: “Prices are justified because our economy is strong (i.e. – lots of jobs), and as long as we keep adding…
Big Picture: Supply vs. Demand
Why have residential real estate prices experienced an unusually rapid increase in last few years? That’s the big question that we all want the answer to, right? There’s one argument that goes something like this: There just aren’t enough homes for everyone. People are moving to the Puget Sound at a rapid pace, and homebuilding…