Full disclosure: The Tim is employed by Redfin. I noticed something a little fishy in last month’s sales numbers from the NWMLS. See if you can spot it in the closed sales chart: Notice how the number of closed sales ticked up between October and November this year, when every other year there was a…
Poll: What’s your favorite style of house?
This poll was active 12.18.2011 through 12.24.2011.
Weekly Twitter Digest (Link Roundup) for 2011-12-17
Such specificity! "Apartment vacancies expected to fall, then rise" http://t.co/1IFk7l1I # "WaMu's former leaders reportedly settle FDIC suit" http://t.co/VQtd1k4Z via @seattletimes # RT @jontalton: WaMu getting away with it http://t.co/GhkoTSle # From a reader: Bubble houses! http://t.co/7Y6XsnvA (Not the type of bubble we typically talk about.) # WaMu / Russell Investments Center up for sale…
Big Picture 2011: Unemployment and Foreclosures
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…
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…