Yes, we're almost definitely in a recession. Yes, our banking system is scratching its way out of a crisis. And yes, there are a ton of condos sitting on the market while some buyers await the apocalypse.
But there is some encouraging news to be had. Check some of these new stories coming out in the last 7 days calling out Seattle as one of the most promising parts of the country.
Seattle real estate rated No. 1
Among major metropolitan areas, Seattle's real estate is the best in the nation as a prospective investment, a national report released Tuesday says.
On an eight-point scale reflecting investment value, Seattle was ranked 6.2, according to the 30th annual study of emerging trends in real estate from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Urban Land Institute.
That ranking reflects averaged ratings by more than 600 surveyed real estate professionals, who assigned a number of 0 to 8 to each the nation's top 10 regions. The better the location for investment purposes, the higher the rating. Full article
Seattle one of the "best looking markets" in the country
i thought banks are frowning on real estate as an investment property.
I know that I will get crucified for this, but I cannot keep my keyboard shut.
The first article seems to base the rating on the opinions of real estate professionals, who are notoriously optimistic about the market that they are in, until it is really obvious that things are in bad shape. I would say that this survey shows that RE professionals in this area are still in denial rather than anything good about the market.
As the for other article, the fact that it mentions unemployment destroys all credibility. Tim on Seattle Bubble has a lot of data to disprove the thesis that unemployment has any real bearing on RE prices.
The best bit of RE news for this area was the banks and credit markets imploding. This will force lending to once again be based on fundamentals (20% down and 38% of income, for example) which will in turn bring prices down to the affordable range again, whereby a normal healthy market will once again develop.
This will suck for the minority of home owners who need their prices from 2006 – 2007 to appreciate, but for everybody else it will be a positive effect.
Who ever listens to Tim from Seattle Bubble? Sure, he throws a bunch of lies, damn lies and statistics, but try to explain the stock market in a series of graphs.
Further, if he used something other than the rather inaccurate Case Shiller report, I might pay more attention to him.
Finally, Unemployment HAS to have a SYMBIOTIC relationship with real estate and real estate prices. If you have 50% unemployment, you know it will affect prices of real estate. If you have 2% unemployment, then that means every business is for the most part, hiring. If businesses are hiring, then people will come, and if people come, then rents rise, which then in turn makes real estate rise.
Take his statistics and throw them out the window… the guy carries more weight than a mosquito, but his “neggy nilly let me find some statistics that back up my point” irritate the hell out of me, and frankly, a lot of them are just dead wrong.
Jason,
I would be very interested if you could point me to a factual error on Tim’s part. All that I have seen him do is compile historical data from other sources in an effort to understand the local market better.
I think that employment and housing prices are linked somewhat, but the correlation is more complex than you make it out to be. Housing prices long term track income. Extremely high unemployment over long periods of time will depress incomes, and hence rents, and therefore house prices. But the periods of time involved here are longer than the normal oscillation of the housing market, so seeing any correlation in data will be difficult or impossible. That is why the numbers don’t show it in reality, and why it is not meaningful to compare it.
LOL…Another attempt by a RE agent to get buyers in the market. Just because Seattle RE prices hasnt fallen as much as some of the other cities does not mean that it is a good market, it only means that there is more to fall.
Reminds me of something I was telling my friend a few months ago when he was buying all oil stocks since those were the only stocks that were holding or rising in a falling market. I warned him that they will eventually fall and they did.
When a correction happens it happens everywhere. One region or one sector may start slow but will eventually catch up. Just because it has not fallen while others have, does not mean it wont fall. This is how corrections work.
Good luck to all the buyers who think now is the time to buy in Seattle.
How does a post talking about a “recession,” “banking crisis,” and “apocalypse” equate to a RE agent trying to get buyers in the market? All the post says to me is the country in rough times but Seattle is one of the best places to be. Anyone who thinks that means people should go out and buy as much as they can in Seattle is either naive or looking for a fight.
After reading the first article, the term “least worst” seems more appropriate than “best”. It’s all relative, e.g. a real estate market in which prices have only dropped 1% the past year would probably qualify as the “best” real estate market over that period. I guess it’s still an encouraging article for homeowners though …