Just a quick note to remind you that Seattle Bubble advanced to round 2 of the little blog tournament they’ve got going on over at Metroblogging Seattle. They put us up against last year’s winner, but so far we’re actually slightly in the lead. Voting closes Sunday, so a little boost going into the weekend…
Detailed Study of Land Use Regulations & Home Prices
The big local housing story today is a study that was released recently by University of Washington Economics professor Theo Eicher. The thrilling title of the study is “Municipal and Statewide Land Use Regulations and Housing Prices Across 250 Major US Cities,” and it may be found (along with a number of related materials) here….
Interest Rate update
I’m seeing via various sources that interest rates are moving up. Today I’m reading that 30 yr fixed rates are around 5.75%. The yield on 10 yr bonds has been increasing lately. Have a good day.
Freddie Mac: 81% 4th Qtr. ’07 Refi’s exceeded original loan by 5% or more.
Frank Nothaft, Vice President and Chief Economist of Freddie Mac: “In the fourth quarter of 2007, 81% of Freddie Mac-owned loans that were refinanced resulted in new mortgages with loan amounts that were at least 5% higher than the original mortgage balances, according to Freddie Mac’s quarterly refinance review. The revised share for the third…
Will Seattle avoid recession, or feel the brunt?
It seems to be a foregone conclusion lately that the US is currently entering recession. Of course, much like the housing market, the some aspects of the economy are local, so we can’t assume that what’s going on nationwide will necessarily hit us here. Following are a couple of articles from the last few days…