{"id":1442,"date":"2008-01-28T09:39:11","date_gmt":"2008-01-28T17:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2008\/01\/28\/seattle-market-playing-catch-up-government-not-riding-to-the-rescue\/"},"modified":"2008-01-29T09:41:53","modified_gmt":"2008-01-29T17:41:53","slug":"seattle-market-playing-catch-up-government-not-riding-to-the-rescue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2008\/01\/28\/seattle-market-playing-catch-up-government-not-riding-to-the-rescue\/","title":{"rendered":"Seattle Market Playing Catch-Up, Government Not Riding to the Rescue"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s a few quickies to start off your Monday morning.<\/p>\n

First up, Seattle’s market got a mention in the LA Times<\/a> on New Year’s Eve while I was cavorting about the country. Note that this was a week or two before<\/em> the NWMLS statistics for December came out, showing a year-on-year price decline<\/em>.<\/p>\n

It’s the kind of house that a year or two ago would have been snapped up in days: a refurbished rambler in a woodsy residential neighborhood minutes from downtown.<\/p>\n

The asking price: $559,000.<\/p>\n

But after seven weeks, Kristen and Al Dittmaier have not received a single offer on their Wedgwood home.<\/p>\n

“I really believed there would be no problem selling,” Kristen Dittmaier said. “But the whole feel of the market has changed. We might have to drop the price.”
\n…
\nOf 20 major U.S. metropolitan areas, all but three \u2014 Seattle, Portland, Ore., and Charlotte, N.C. \u2014 experienced a decline in real estate values this October compared with last October, according to the Standard & Poor’s\/Case-Shiller composite price index, released last week.<\/p>\n

Home prices have fallen most in the Midwest, Southwest, Florida and California. In Los Angeles, prices fell 8.8%; in New York City, 4.1%.<\/p>\n

Seattle prices increased 3.3%, but that was the smallest year-to-year rise for the city in more than a decade. The annual appreciation in Seattle has been slowing for more than a year and a half. Some economists say it’s only a matter of time before Seattle joins the national slump.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Next up, Aubrey Cohen points out the “not-so-fine print on the conforming loan limit<\/a>:”<\/p>\n

It appears conforming loans still would be capped at less than $500,000, under the economic stimulus package deal announced last week.<\/p>\n

The deal would raise the cap from $417,000 to 125 percent of a metro area’s median home price, with a ceiling of $730,000, according to Congressional leaders.<\/p>\n

The Seattle area had a median home price of $394,700 in the third quarter of 2007, according to the National Association of Realtors. That would put the new cap at $493,375, an increase of $76,375 (18.3 percent) from the current level.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And lastly, get ready for a shock: slowing sales means lean times for real estate sales offices. Shocking, I know. But it’s really happening in Olympia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A slower Thurston County housing market has been felt by not only buyers and sellers but also South Sound real estate professionals.<\/p>\n

Exit Northwest Realty decided last month to vacate its 5,000-square-foot office on Martin Way in Olympia because it had become too expensive to rent in a slower market, co-owner and broker Steve Cahill said.<\/p>\n

The real estate company had occupied the space for about 18 months, but now will retreat to a Shelton office while it looks for smaller, cheaper office space in Olympia, Cahill said.<\/p>\n

“We have to change the way we do things and get leaner,” Cahill said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Golly, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say the bubble around here has finally burst.<\/p>\n

(Tomas Alex Tizon, Los Angeles Times<\/a>, 12.31.2007<\/em>)
\n(Aubrey Cohen, Seattle Real Estate News<\/a>, 01.27.2008<\/em>)
\n( Rolf Boone, The Olympian<\/a>, 01.18.2008<\/em>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s a few quickies to start off your Monday morning. First up, Seattle’s market got a mention in the LA Times on New Year’s Eve while I was cavorting about the country. Note that this was a week or two before the NWMLS statistics for December came out, showing a year-on-year price decline. 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