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Seattle Home Price LevelsPosted on April 1, 2010
The closely watched Standard & Poors / Case-Schiller index of 20 metropolitan areas rose 0.3 percent from December on a seasonally adjusted basis. That marked eight consecutive months of home values improving or at least holding steady. The index was down 0.7 percent from the same month last year, the nearest that the year-over-year reading has come to positive territory in three years. Seattle is one of the 20 cities in the Case-Schiller index, but it saw January home prices fall 0.6 from December and 6 percent from January 2009. The Seattle residential market peaked in summer 2007 and has dropped 29 percent since then. Local prices have returned to May 2005 levels. This does seem about right for the Seattle market overall. But, based on the recent sales volume that our office has been experiencing over the past couple of months, I would venture to say that some of the desirable close-in neighborhoods have fared somewhat better than this with less of a price drop than the Case-Schiller index indicates. Although all areas have seen price declines over the past couple of years, the "urban villages" of Seattle with their easy downtown commute have been better able to withstand price declines than the outlying suburban neighborhoods.
 Post a Comment : Author: Tom Knee
Where are interest rates headed?Posted on March 31, 2010
As March winds down, there is quite a bit of anxiety in the market concerning the direction that interest rates may be headed. Today is the last day of the central bank's $1.4 trillion program to purchase mortgage-backed securities and housing-agency debt. It is believed that this program has suppressed any market driven rise in mortgage rates. Since 30 year mortgage rates have been available during much of the past year in the 4.75 to 5.00 percent range, people have gotten somewhat complacent and tend to believe that this level of interest rates is the new normal. History shows otherwise. We have been bouncing along near a forty year low so the natural trend would indicate that rates will rise towards the long term average. Since 1980 the average interest rate has been 8.965% (with a range of 4.5 to 18.5 percent during this time period). Also, the large projected federal budget deficits into the foreseeable future does not bode well for the sustainability of low long term interest rates. So I believe that we will look back at this time as a "golden age" as far as interest rates go. Anyone serious about purchasing property in the near term should jump at this opportunity to lock in a historically low long term interest rate - and not take the current conditions for granted!
Post a Comment : Author: Tom Knee
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