With mortgage interest rates having risen a full point over the last two months, there has been a lot of renewed talk about how interest rates will affect the housing market. We talked about this recently (Déjà Vu: Mortgage Interest Rates Panic), but I thought now would be a good time to post a collection…
Poll: How many levels do you prefer in your home?
This poll was active 06.23.2013 through 06.29.2013
Seattle-Area Price to Income Ratio Near Historic Average
It’s been a while since we’ve taken look at how local home prices compare to local incomes, so let’s update those charts. First, let’s check out the ratio between home prices and per capita income from the BEA: Overall the Seattle area is just a little bit above the long-term average, and almost entirely thanks…
Seattle-Area Adds More Jobs, Unemployment Dips Below 5%
New local job stats came out this week, so let’s have a look at the Seattle area’s employment situation. First up, year-over-year job growth, broken down into a few relevant sectors: Construction growth dipped again, and has fallen from a 10.2% year-over-year gain in January to 3.1% in May. With 5.7% year-over-year growth, the retail…
Can Banks Seek Deficiency Judgment in Washington State?
Over the weekend the Washington Post published a story about former homeowners who find themselves owing money on a home they lost to foreclosure years earlier: Lenders seek court actions against homeowners years after foreclosure. It’s a process called “deficiency judgment,” and it’s not really news to anyone who has paid attention to housing over…