CNBC’s Jane Wells is reporting that Internet data miners indicate the online search queries for “homes for sale” is up 42%, suggesting that the housing market is poised to pick up. The reader who e-mailed me this article suggests maybe that the opposite is true. People are searching to see what homes are listed for…
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Local Media "Starting to Notice Cooling"
Thanks to reader Peckhammer for pointing out an apparently self-contradictory article in today’s Seattle P-I. It begins quite predictably, with the usual examples that purport to show that the Seattle market is still hot, hot, hot… House hunter Vicky Tsai has paid for two inspections of homes she didn’t buy: one that she lost out…
Lender Tightening within 60 days?
From today’s information at Calculated Risk Blog. It appears that federal regulation regarding non-traditional mortgages may be in place within 60 days. If this ends up having any teeth at all, it could make it more challenging for borrowers to qualify for interest-only loans or pay-option loans. As one blogger responded: “talk about rearranging the…
Unaffordability Spotlight: Queen Anne
Despite my prediction that we would not see Bibeka Shrestha’s name on another Seattle Times’ real estate article, she has resurfaced this weekend with one of those "neighborhood in focus" type articles. The neighborhood in focus: Queen Anne. Single-family houses and condominiums in the area that includes Queen Anne had a median price of $483,000…
Lawrence Yun is back
From the New York Times today- “‘Certainly, the housing market is undergoing a measurable adjustment,’ Lawrence Yun, senior economist with the Realtor association, said. The bloated inventory levels, Mr. Yun said, indicate ‘a very sudden change which I have never seen before.’” -Lawrence Yun, NAR economist. Earlier this year, he mentioned that he expected Seattle…