Out of 95 US metro areas, the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue housing market ranks as the 79th most affordable. In other words, even with Pierce County dragging the average down, as of 2005 we were still the 17th least affordable metro. Bizjournals compared housing costs and income levels in the 95 U.S. metros with populations above 500,000. The…
$400,000 is Not "Affordable"
A couple of interesting letters to the editor floated to the surface today in response to Ms. Rhodes’ latest article. Here’s my favorite: I guess I don’t understand how anyone would think that a $400,000 to $500,000 price tag on a town house is considered to be affordable housing. Not for folks who work for…
Seattle Buyers Not Immune to Credit Crunch
As you know, I haven’t said much on this blog about the ongoing collapse of lending as we’ve known it the last few years. This is primarily because the issue is being covered quite thoroughly at many of the other bubble blogs linked on the sidebar. However, a reader sent me a pdf report by…
Introducing Priced Out Forever (dot com)
On the eve of the spring selling season, I am pleased to introduce the latest resource for potential home buyers across the country, Priced Out Forever. In the words of the site’s front page: Priced Out Forever is your Internet headquarters for analysis, humor, and news about the so-called threat of allegedly never-ending soaring home…
February Reporting Roundup
I’m going to do the monthly reporting roundup a little differently today. I’m going to keep it simple. What you see below is a list of my favorite line from each of the local writeups. It’s too early to say if this spring’s home sales will be a repeat of last spring’s frenetic activity, but…