Forget $200k for 500ft². Coming in 2008 to downtown Bellevue: $400k for 700ft² (that’s $571/ft² for you math whizzes out there). A longtime cornerstone of downtown Bellevue, the old Puget Sound Energy headquarters, is coming down this week to make way for twin condominium towers the developer anticipates will be one of the region’s most…
Northwest Economist: "Slow Deflation" Coming
Tom Cox, a “prominent Northwest economist” and host of the PBS program “Serious Money,” gives the Northwest a “mostly sunny” economic forecast, but with a notable exception regarding housing: The Northwest will continue to see an influx of people, particularly from California, seeking the region’s relatively well-paid jobs. But don’t expect a steady flow of…
State RE Spending Proposed
An answer is shaping up to the question of what is going to happen to all the extra revenue that the state has been raking in thanks to the real estate boom/bubble. If Representative Larry Springer has his way, a big chunk of the (presumably) continuing flow of cash from real estate taxes will be…
Developers Fight Tall Condo Tax
Roughly two weeks ago, the city of Seattle released news of a plan to Tax condos for “Affordable Housing”. Today news breaks of the developers firing back: Downtown Seattle condominium developers punched holes Wednesday in a City Council-sponsored study suggesting that they could pay more for affordable housing and still reap big profits from taller…
Good News / Bad News For Seattle Condos
More news on downtown Seattle condos comes today via the Seattle P-I, and it’s a good news / bad news sort of thing. All signs point to go in the completion of downtown Seattle’s recovery from the last economic downturn — but if developers aren’t careful, they could overbuild and be left in the lurch….