November 11, 2015
Western Washington Real Estate Market Update
Posted in Market News and Western Washington Real Estate Market Update by Matthew Gardner, Chief Economist, Windermere Real Estate
After a period of above-average growth, Washington State has seen a modest slowing in employment growth, but we continue to add jobs at a respectable rate. The State unemployment rate was measured at 5.3%, marginally above the national level, but it is trending in the right direction.
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August 20, 2015
Oregon and Southwest Washington Real Estate Market Update
Posted in Market News by Matthew Gardner, Chief Economist, Windermere Real Estate
The Oregon economy has regained its traditional job growth advantage relative to the nation with employment growth running about one percent higher than a typical state. With the expansion in employment—in concert with rising wages—the economy appears to be in good shape. Although not yet at full employment, the direction is very positive.
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August 18, 2015
Will Millennials be ‘Perma-renters’?
Posted in Market News by Matthew Gardner, Chief Economist, Windermere Real Estate
There has been a lot of buzz in the news recently suggesting that millennials will forever be renters and not homeowners. Reasons for this theory include amenities that apartments offer, flexibility when it comes to moving and changing jobs, and inability to afford a home given the crushing student debt load many are carrying. So will this be the renter generation? Let’s take a look at the data.
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July 29, 2015
Western Washington Real Estate Market Update
Posted in Market News by Matthew Gardner, Chief Economist, Windermere Real Estate
Washington state appears to be pretty much firing on all cylinders with annual employment growth well above 100,000 and the unemployment rate trending down toward 5%. A ll in all, it’s difficult to f ind something to worry about at the moment.
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July 09, 2015
Homeownership Has Declined, But It Won't Be Forever
Posted in Market News by Matthew Gardner, Chief Economist, Windermere Real Estate
In addition to talking about housing bubbles, another topic that is becoming popular among housing scaremongers is the ongoing decline in the U.S. homeownership rate. Remarks range from the direct, “American homeownership is at its lowest level in more than two decades,” to the downright inflammatory, “Rental surge to drop homeownership rate to 61.3% by 2030”.
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June 17, 2015
No Housing Bubble in Sight – For Now
Posted in Market News by Matthew Gardner, Chief Economist, Windermere Real Estate
So here we are, a decade later, and some are starting to suggest that we are on the verge of another “bubble” bursting due to an overheated housing market. I’m often asked if there is any truth to this, and my response is no, I don’t believe there is a national bubble on the horizon. And here are the reasons why:
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May 14, 2015
Oregon and Southwest Washington Real Estate Market Update
Posted in Market News by Matthew Gardner, Chief Economist, Windermere Real Estate
First quarter had 10,269 home sales, which is an annual increase of 16.9%.
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May 06, 2015
Western Washington Real Estate Market Update
Posted in Market News by Matthew Gardner, Chief Economist, Windermere Real Estate
This speedometer reflects the state of the region’s housing market using housing inventory, price gains, sales velocities, interest rates, and larger economic factors. As you can see, we are still very clearly in the midst of a seller’s market, and unless we see a significant increase in listings, it will remain that way for the foreseeable future.
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March 04, 2015
Oregon and Southwest Washington Real Estate Market Update
Posted in Market News by Matthew Gardner, Chief Economist, Windermere Real Estate
Total sales in 2014 were 3.8 percent higher than those seen in 2013; however, inventory constraints in many markets kept this number below its full potential.
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February 26, 2015
Western Washington Real Estate Market Update
Posted in Market News by Matthew Gardner, Chief Economist, Windermere Real Estate
2014 was a pretty good year for the 15 counties covered in this report. In total, Western Washington added 65,710 jobs in 2014, up from the annual rate of 62,520 through the third quarter, which is a growth rate of 2.9 percent. For comparison purposes, the state as a whole grew by 2.7 percent and employment nationwide rose by 1.9 percent.
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