An Itch That Won’t Go Away
CBS DFW reports from Texas. “When Erika Williamson originally moved to Downtown Dallas in the late ’90s, she was a trailblazer. Today, she’s joined poolside on the 9th floor of her Main Street loft building with others walking their dogs or improving tans. ‘This is a neighborhood now,’ proclaimed Shalissa Colwell, downtown resident and marketing director for Downtown Dallas Inc. She points to an estimated 4,000 new housing units on-line and/or planned for the Downtown sector. ‘People from California, Chicago and other locations want this lifestyle. Many are empty nesters who love to walk to the bars and restaurants.’”
“Williamson moved back to downtown last year. ‘I have everything I want here now. A grocery store would be nice, though,’ she said.”
The Register Guard in Oregon. “A flood of sales and new listings since October has pushed median prices to their highest levels since the months before the Great Recession, and the market may now have accelerated into a full-scale boom. ‘I’ve been selling homes for 23 years, and June and July were the best two months I’ve ever seen,’ said Kim Heddinger, co-owner of Golden Realty in Eugene. ‘It’s even better than the mid-2000s.’”
“The city has granted final approval since Jan. 1 for 15 new subdivisions totaling 515 single-family home lots, a review of land use records show. In the previous five years, 22 subdivisions with a total of 331 lots received city approval. The supply of residential land in Eugene and Springfield ‘is extremely low, and what’s on the market for sale right now is grossly overpriced,’ said builder Rick Sorric.”
The Star Tribune in Minnesota. “North Minneapolis residents still reeling from the Great Recession offered a surprising reaction when developers unveiled plans to build homes that would sell for up to $300,000. They won’t sell, members of a neighborhood board said. There’s no one in the area with that kind of income. The houses will sit empty. ‘I don’t know how you expect people to go spend $300,000 even for a kick-ass house,’ one unidentified community member said.”
“When neighborhood association chairwoman Ann Moe hears of people looking for $300,000 homes, her response is, ‘Why would they want to live in my neighborhood?’”
Vegas Inc. in Nevada. “Coyote Springs, launched by former powerhouse lobbyist and current prison inmate Harvey Whittemore, has a golf course and little else. But it was supposed to be a 43,000-acre community, a city built from scratch in the middle of nowhere during Southern Nevada’s go-go years. But now, years after the massive project fell by the wayside, Coyote Springs’ developers are trying to revive it. The group has approvals to build as many as 159,600 homes and more than 10,000 acres of commercial property.”
“There are no homes — dozens of empty housing pads line the golf course — and when asked whether roads have been built, general counsel Emilia Cargill said that’s ‘kind of a trick question.’ Most haven’t been paved yet. The golf shop and players’ lounge are in temporary trailers, and north of the golf course, an abandoned, partially built community center sits off U.S. 93. ‘Why would you want to live out here?’ said Manjinder Lalh, visiting from Edmonton, Alberta. ‘You’re so far from everything.’”
The Tampa Bay Times in Florida. “The chief economist of Fannie Mae, the national mortgage giant, came to town this week with a mixed bag of news about the housing market. ‘Demographics drive housing,’ Doug Duncan said. ‘What turns renters into buyers is employment and income. We’ve seen employment pick up but not yet income. This is the weakest recovery of the last eight recessions. In no previous recession until this one did people expect their incomes to fall. In this one, they expected them to fall a lot. Is that a good environment to buy a house? No.’”
“Asked if the ’shadow inventory’ of foreclosed houses could affect prices, Duncan said bank-owned homes are ‘moving through the system so slowly’ that they won’t have much of an impact.”
The New York Post. “Foreclosure cases that drag on for years without resolution, however, have become a quiet crisis in New York, particularly for homeowners who have dared to fight back against dubious foreclosure claims by banks and investors. New Yorker Ron D., who declined to give his full name out of concern for his family’s privacy, has been struggling for more than five years to sort out who owns the loan on his metro-area home. He and his wife now live with their adult child, and don’t know when they will be able to sell their former dream house and pay their debts. ‘This thing has become an itch that won’t go away,’ he said.”
“Cynthia Carssow Franklin has been battling Wells Fargo since filing for bankruptcy protection in White Plains in 2010 to avoid foreclosure on her Texas home after an unrelated investment went bad. The fight has held up Franklin’s discharge from bankruptcy, and limited her access to credit and ability to rent an apartment. She lives with her boyfriend, devoting six to 10 hours a week to her case. ‘We’re trapped,’ she told The Post.”
The Baltimore Sun in Maryland. “The four-bedroom, 2.5-bath home on Cromwell Bridge Road in Towson listed in June for $324,900. And lingered. June Piper-Brandon, a real estate agent with Century 21 New Millennium, and the seller, David Walcher, recently reduced the price by about $25,000. Even so, no one showed up at an open house this weekend. ‘We keep dropping the price and hoping,’ Piper-Brandon said.”
“So far this year, the median price has fallen about 1.6 percent and remains about 10 percent off the 2007 peak. The disconnect between local and national prices coupled with the increased demand may be causing pricing confusion in the Baltimore market. Piper-Brandon said some homeowners have gotten encouraged to sell as more emerge from being underwater. But many prospective buyers are still backing away and opting to rent. ‘We’re certainly seeing people going back to work, but they’re not making as much money as they used to make,’ she said.”
“The region’s stagnant prices also reflect a continued churn of distressed properties, which drag down prices while feeding supply. Foreclosures and short sales increased 43.5 percent year-over-year in July, to 673, or 18.5 percent of all transactions. Many of the distressed properties date to delinquencies that started in the recession, and are just now appearing as the market adjusts to regulatory changes. ‘It’s that lingering overhang,’ said Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. ‘The serious delinquency rate has come down a great deal in the Baltimore market. It’s still really high.’”
“After dropping the price on his home, Walche said his family is in no rush — they just found a bigger home with a pool they liked more. They bought the property from a bank after a foreclosure, so there’s some wiggle room. ‘I think this may be an opportunity for somebody to take advantage of the situation we’re in and get a good deal that might not be available at other times,’ said Walcher, an insurance agent. ‘If it doesn’t sell, OK, I had planned to live here for 20 years anyway.”
‘Many are empty nesters who love to walk to the bars…’
Uh huh.
‘People from California, Chicago and other locations want this lifestyle.
Q: What is the first thing a public union goon does when he/she retires with a 20 year OT spiked and faked disability pension?
A: Moves to a low tax and right to work state.
Why would a retired public union goon care if a state was right to work or not? They’re retired. They go to where the weather is warmer because their old bones can’t handle the cold. If you lived in a cabin in the woods, you wouldn’t have to worry about the public union goons. If you live in a house and want clean drinking water and safe streets, pay your damn property taxes and quit whining about them.
A: Moves to a low tax and right to work state ??
A #2: And the becomes a staunch republican…
A #2: And the becomes a staunch republican…
If your thesis is correct - the next question is why?
1. Public union goons have seen both systems and see one system heading for complete failure, utter bankruptcy and soon?
2. Public union goons have seen both systems and like one more than the other?
3. Public union goons don’t like it when their own money has to go to support democrats/socialists? It is OK to tax the snot out of other people to support their public union goon lifestyle but they draw the line at their own money?
4. Public union goons don’t want to share the secrets of why Chicago and Detroit are such worker’s paradises?
5. Public union goons know deep down inside that they have scammed the system and that too many people scamming the system will destroy the system? That scammers need a place to go to live off their scam that is not trying to scam them?
6. ???
“Debt free and No payments to anyone”
Now there’s a lifestyle I can get on board with!!
Own a house - pay property taxes, utilities and maintenance.
Don’t own a house - pay rent.
Either way, you’re paying somebody.
But the rent way, you’re paying half the amount.
+1 on property taxes and housing expenses. I hate that about ownership. I guess if you had enough money saved to cover all your property taxes and maintenance till death you could in concept say you don’t have payments.
I was talking more about student loans, car payments and payin’ fer cable teevee.
The house in which I live would cost about $800/month more if I rented it today. My house payment includes $460/month of principal reduction. Just another bonus of owning.
I installed solar 11 months ago and now I don’t pay an electrical bill (gas = $400/year). It would be hard to do that if I rented.
We like where we live so much, we call it our toe tag house. If we rented, we could not state that with the certainty we do now.
There are many benefits to owning if you plan and execute properly. That plan would probably not include buying a house today, but it could include buying one in 2020.
And your losses to depreciation?
some are afraid of al cady
ps unions are much scarier
I’ve lived in downtown Dallas for 12 years - and, I rent. Haven’t commented on here for a few years, but thought I’d chime in about Dallas.
Downtown is really coming along, but I still would never buy - the HOA fees will kill you. The infrastructure has a long way to go, too. The potholes are jarring if you happen to drive anywhere. And, for some reason, Dallas doesn’t have the available technology that allows for streets to be paved even with manhole covers. Those are always recessed about half a foot down from the surrounding blacktop. Makes for a nice obstacle course driving around the city.
And, a real grocery store downtown would be great. I can take the train a couple of stops, then walk a quarter mile to the store, but lugging all the stuff home is a pain.
Not sure about the influx of empty nesters from around the country, but I can attest to the fact that all we do after work is flock to the bars and complain about the ungodly heat.
We’ve had a week of muggy 90 degree weather here in the Midwest and I’ve had pretty much all I can take. I’m starting to get nostalgic about the snow. I can’t imagine what kind of hell it must be to live down south in the summer.
Its not all that bad. The most intense heat is about 60 days of the year, give or take. From mid July to mid September. Some people actually like it.
As long as a person has covered parking, deciduous trees to the south and west, good a/c, etc. It is very tolerable.
I was talking to a co-worker not that long ago who was bemoaning their electric bill. It was $400+ for a month. Of course, they set their thermostat at 68 degrees and don’t shop for electricity providers.
I’m currently paying .68 cents per kwh with delivery charges included. That is 100% renewable nrg. I will have one electric bill of more than $100 all summer.
“I’m currently paying .68 cents per kwh with delivery charges included.”
Wow, I’m paying $0.037/kW-hr up near the Columbia River.
peiople in CHIghetto are so friendly , yet so screwed
Midwest is get for biz too
New England is the opposite
and complain about the ungodly heat ??
Seems mundane but IMO its the basis for the attraction to Silicon Valley….The Weather…
And that weather wasn’t there when houses cost 20k? I think it may have more to do with those Yellen bucks the VC guys are throwing around.
Silicon Valley was considered expensive in 1946 when my great aunt moved to Palo Alto from San Francisco. Her home was $26k when they purchased it.
Was it AS expensive relative to other parts of the country as it is today? Doubtful. But it was not considered cheap, or even on par with the rest of the country then.
Sounds like another one of your tall tales Rental_Fraud.
Do you really expect anyone here to believe housing prices were 15x annual wages in 1946?
Busted again Rental_Fraud.
And don’t forget the poverty, crime, sexual predators, earthquakes and no water.
such a chickenshet! Earthquakes are fun! They sure beat tornadoes, hurricanes and ice storms. Last one that hurt was in the 90’s and it only hurt a small area.
And don’t forget the massive impoverished illegal alien population in Californica.
Yeah, anyone who claims that Americans walk anywhere is just a fool. Americans have long given up on walkable neighborhoods. Sure, you get the occasional jogger or dog walker, but other than that, the guy or gal slides into an SUV or big-ass truck and drives. To get exercise, they drive to the gym.
We’ve a plan for our rusty downtown that proposed we start permanently blocking off streets to get walkable zones. My friends and I laugh at that, since that will kill the businesses lining those streets. Americans (particularly in the flyover) don’t walk anywhere. They drive. If they want to go to a downtown bar, they drive in from the suburbs and expect to park as close to the bar as possible, ideally right out in front on the street. Once you close off that street to car traffic, the retail businesses lining it will choke and die.
I once liked the walking paradigm, but even a healthy walky guy like me is dependent upon the car, so I ditched that stupid Liberal viewpoint and I now have to admit that if your business has no parking for it, it’s done like dinner. A successful retail establishment in the flyover must have enough parking available, close enough to the front door. Period.
‘I have everything I want here now. A grocery store would be nice, though,’ she said.”
Meh, who needs stuff from the grocery store. Just wipe your ass with doggy bags from the many walking distance restaurants.
‘Asked if the ’shadow inventory’ of foreclosed houses could affect prices, Duncan said bank-owned homes are ‘moving through the system so slowly’ that they won’t have much of an impact’
He ought to know as Fannie and Freddie are at the center of this scam. He also said this in the article:
‘Duncan noted that sales of existing homes are almost back to prerecession levels. Though tighter lending standards will keep bubble-style buying in check, he predicted prices will continue to rise until more new homes hit the market. “Nationally, there are only 60,000 finished new homes for sale — that’s the lowest since the ’60s. The population is 2 1/2 times as large as it was then.”
Why are the builders holding back?
Chainsaw juggling scammers.
25 million excess, empty and defaulted houses don’t disappear forever.
Well, you’ve been claiming they exist for 10 years now and yet no one but you find them. HA!
If 5 million homes sell every year, you would think 25 million would be a bit challenging to hide! HA!
5 million sell every year? Are you sure Jingle_Fraud? You have no shame.
“SHOCKER: Realtors lied about home sales”
http://njrereport.com/index.php/2011/02/22/shocker-nar-lied-about-home-sales/
‘New Tucson housing community gets first homebuilder’
‘Meritage Homes bought 195 lots in La Estancia development and is already moving dirt in anticipation of having models ready early next year. La Estancia, a 565-acre site located near Wilmot Road, north of Interstate 10, is being developed by Scottsdale-based Sunbelt Holdings.’
‘When the site is built out, developers hope to have 2,500 homes there as well as a community pool, kids’ splash pad, covered ramada and picnic tables.’
‘New-home permits in metro Phoenix jump 55 percent in July’
‘The latest data shows 1,592 permits for new houses were issued last month, compared with 1,024 in July 2014, according to the Phoenix Housing Market Letter report. The median price of new houses sold in metro Phoenix during July reached almost $300,000 — about $83,000 more than the median price for an existing Valley house.’
‘Concerns are rising that the Greater Downtown Miami condo resale market may be nearing — or already even passed — its peak for this current real estate cycle that began in 2011. The growing pessimistic sentiment about the outlook of the Greater Downtown Miami resale market gained some statistical merit, of sorts, with the recent revelation that average resale prices and the number of condo resale transactions were both down in the first half of this year.’
‘The drop in year-over-year resale prices and transactions comes at a time when about 17 months of condo supply — about three times the generally accepted level of balanced market — is already available for purchase in Greater Downtown Miami.’
‘Now, both resale market indicators are headed downward in Greater Downtown Miami at a time when another South Florida preconstruction condo boom is underway, the global economy is slowing, and foreign currencies are weakening against the U.S. dollar.’
‘Global markets are a key driver for the Miami market because some 85 percent of the condo purchases is done by international investors, according to the Miami Downtown Development Authority. In the past four years, developers have announced plans to build at least 72 new condo towers with nearly 20,200 units in the Miami market.’
‘In Greater Downtown Miami to date, developers have already completed seven new condo towers with nearly 1,900 units and are currently constructing 21 more new condo towers with at least 5,300 units, according to the data. An additional 44 new condo towers with nearly 13,000 units are in the planning or pre-sale phase of development.’
‘For context, consider that developers created more than 22,000 new units during Greater Downtown Miami’s previous condo boom-bust cycle that stretched from 2003 to 2010, according to an analysis of Miami-Dade County records. Despite growing concerns about the Greater Downtown Miami market on multiple fronts, the recent actions of some developers clearly show that a high level of optimism about the area’s growth prospects still exists.’
‘U.S. housing starts rose to a near eight-year high in July as builders ramped up construction of single-family homes. Groundbreaking increased 0.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 1.21 million units, the highest level since October 2007, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday. June’s starts were revised sharply higher to a 1.20 million-unit rate from the previously reported 1.17 million-unit pace.’
‘Housing starts have now been above a one million-unit pace for four straight months. In July, groundbreaking for single-family homes, which accounts for the largest share of the market, surged 12.8 percent to a 782,000 unit pace, the highest level since December 2007. Single-family home building in the South, where most of the home construction takes place, rose to the highest level since January 2008.’
Looking at the CB report (WARNING PDF):
http://www.census.gov/construction/nrc/pdf/newresconst.pdf
On page 5, I see there’s 389,000 SF houses under construction. On page 6, there’s 627,000 completed.
The 627k is the seasonally adjusted, annual rate of completions.
The number for July (not seasonally adjusted) is 51k. With 407k (not seasonally adjusted) under construction, this puts the average time to build a home at 8 months. That’s long for a “production” home (built by public builders), but short for a “custom” home.
Are we building more SF homes as compared to last year?
Yes.
July 2014, there were 361k homes under construction. So, there are about 13% more homes being built now.
That increase in construction though has not yet caused an increase in completions (There were about 51k completed in July 2014). I’d say give it 5 months…I’m willing to bet the bulk of the increase in construction is by public builders…who throw up a home quickly…certainly faster than the 8 month average would indicate.
You deliberately go so far out in the weeds just to obfuscate the truth about housing Rental_Fraud.
The reality is housing demand is at 20 year lows in a sea of 25 million excess empty and defaulted houses.
‘The foreclosure crisis persists in New York, even worsening in some suburban and upstate areas, the state comptroller reported Monday. New filings declined for two years under revised court rules that require lenders to affirm claims to property and not simply produce rote documents. However, after dropping to 16,655 in 2011, they climbed sharply again, reaching 46,696 in 2013. New filings were 43,868 last year.’
“The foreclosure crisis is far from resolved,” Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said. “There are still too many people losing their homes. In many places, the situation has continued to get worse.”
‘The pending caseload has held fairly steady at around 90,000 since the start of 2013 with courts backlogged, involving one of every 88 housing units in New York.’
There are millions of excess empty and defaulted houses in NY. The problem is equally as large as Californias.
This does not apply in NYC.
Why is the NYC real estate market so high? Who are the NYC buyers? What is there income range? How can they afford it?
It sure does. I’ll wager theres a million excess empty and defaulted houses in the 5 boroughs alone.
lyn….i know of at least 8 in the 3 blocks around me, but funny noo yorkahz know never to listen to anyone but a sheriff at you door with eviction papers…….they still rent the illegal basement apartments….even with all the walking i do lately, its still hard to find anything abandoned boarded up or grass 3 feet high, but they are there.
So DJ, you’re saying you know of 8 defaulted homes within 3 blocks, but none of them are excess or empty? They’re all occupied by people waiting for resolution to their foreclosures?
Where will they go?
All empty.
Arlington, TX Housing Prices Crater 5%; Excess Housing Inventory Explodes 85%
http://www.movoto.com/arlington-tx/market-trends/
Austin, TX Housing Prices Fall 6% YoY
http://www.movoto.com/austin-tx/market-trends/
Portland, OR Housing Prices Dive 10% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/northwest-portland-or/home-values/
Minneapolis, MN Housing Prices Sink 16% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/fulton-minneapolis-mn/home-values/
Las Vegas, NV Housing Prices Plunge 12% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/summerlin-south-las-vegas-nv/home-values/
Downtown Miami, FL Housing Prices Fall 12% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/downtown-miami-fl/home-values/
Maryland Housing Prices Fall 8% Statewide
http://www.zillow.com/md/home-values/
The graph says it’s basically level. Where do you get the 8%?
I do agree, obviously, that housing is overpriced, esp. when you go beyond the face value costs and look at maintenance, taxes, depreciation, and opportunity cost.
Liberace….. you’ve been instructed how to use a drop down menu how many times?
….about as many times as you’ve been instructed to quit cherry picking data and quit posting meaningless dribble that doesn’t represent the market.
Data my friend data.
Alameda, CA Housing Prices Fall 12% YoY
http://www.movoto.com/alameda-ca/market-trends/
Massachussetts Housing Prices Fall 8% YoY Statewide
http://www.zillow.com/ma/home-values/
San Diego, CA Housing Prices Fall 4% YoY On Plunging Demand For Housing
http://www.zillow.com/san-diego-ca-92130/home-values/
Novato, CA Housing Prices Fall 4% At Peak of Season
http://www.movoto.com/novato-ca/market-trends/
“After dropping the price on his home, Walche said his family is in no rush — they just found a bigger home with a pool they liked more. They bought the property from a bank after a foreclosure, so there’s some wiggle room. ‘I think this may be an opportunity for somebody to take advantage of the situation we’re in and get a good deal that might not be available at other times,’ said Walcher, an insurance agent. ‘If it doesn’t sell, OK, I had planned to live here for 20 years anyway.”
Stunning how quickly the system can get the gullible to drop their guard.
Watch your wallet and hold onto every dollar you’ve got. You’ll thank me later.
‘As the U.S. economic expansion ages and clouds gather overseas, policy makers worry about recession. Their concern isn’t that a downturn is imminent but whether they will have firepower to fight back when one does arrive. Interest rates are near zero, and fiscal stimulus plans could be hampered by high levels of government debt and the prospect of growing budget deficits to cover entitlement spending on retired baby boomers.’
‘Mr. Bernanke said he was struck by how central banks in Europe recently pushed short-term interest rates into negative territory, essentially charging banks for depositing cash rather than lending it to businesses and households. The Swiss National Bank, for example, charges commercial banks 0.75% interest for money they park, an incentive to lend it elsewhere.’
‘Economic theory suggests negative rates prompt businesses and households to hoard cash—essentially, stuff it in a mattress. “It does look like rates can go more negative than conventional wisdom has held,” Mr. Bernanke said.’
‘Others, including Sen. Bob Corker (R.,Tenn.), see only the Fed’s limits. “They have, like, zero juice left,” he said.’
Clear all debts to 0.
‘Fund managers cut their exposure to both commodities and emerging market equities to record lows this month, as oil and metals seem unable to shrug off price weakness and China recession fears mount, new research shows. “In terms of long-term investment in China, investors should not make the mistake of assuming there is some cohesive plan in Beijing - there is not. The question is whether to take official comments at face value,” said managing partner of Cerno Capital, James Spence.’
Coyote Springs? Egads, it’s the new City of California City!!! Of which you can still see the unfinished, empty streets from space, half a century after they were graded.
And where do they plan on getting their water from? THAT is the operative question for the rest of this century.
“The Baltimore Sun in Maryland. “The four-bedroom, 2.5-bath home on Cromwell Bridge Road in Towson listed in June for $324,900. And lingered. June Piper-Brandon, a real estate agent with Century 21 New Millennium, and the seller, David Walcher, recently reduced the price by about $25,000. Even so, no one showed up at an open house this weekend. ‘We keep dropping the price and hoping,’ Piper-Brandon said.””
—————
^^ That’s a very nice location, next to an excellent elementary school. The kind that makes even anti-suburb Joe Smith consider moving up there to send his kid in a few years (I wouldn’t do it bc I care more about making good financial decisions). It’s a few blocks from “downtown” Towson and not much further to get to either Towson or Goucher colleges. My wife works with a teacher who lives in exactly that location off of Cromwell Bridge Rd.
Young families these days just buy a basic townhouse and send their kids to a slightly worse school. A lot probably rent in larger comlexes, but the problem with some of the rentals is when you have kids, you don’t want to live next to college kidz or drinking/drugging losers. The demographics are also a lot less favorable when you start to get to lower priced places…
Liberace!
No response eh?
http://www.greatschools.org/maryland/baltimore/435-Cromwell-Valley-Elementary-Technology/
It is actually a solid area. Just a fact that houses are generally overpriced and that 4/2.5 is probably in crappy condition.
I appreciate the local specifics on this house. I wouldn’t have known this otherwise.
““The four-bedroom, 2.5-bath home on Cromwell Bridge Road in Towson listed in June for $324,900.”
What is your point Lib? Take a look at the grotesquely inflated asking price. They made a minor reduction to another grotesquely inflated asking price.
If it’s in excess of $150k, it’s not founded in reality. If it’s a used house, it’s far less than that.
Can you shop to free at cvs while police watch?
Ashburn, VA Housing Prices Crater 8% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/ashburn-va/home-values/
‘A new report by the Mark Co. revealed that new condominium prices decreased in both San Francisco and Seattle in July, and remained flat in Downtown Los Angeles compared to the previous month. However, all three markets maintained year-over-year price increases.’
“We saw a slight decrease in July over last month for resale condominium pricing in San Francisco, falling 1 percent to $1,028 per square foot, and in Downtown Seattle, declining 2 percent to $631 per square foot. Downtown Los Angeles remained unchanged at $544 per square foot,” Erin Kennelly, The Mark Company’s senior director of research, said.’
‘The Mark Company Condominium Pricing Index in San Francisco for the month of July registered $1,284 per square foot, a decrease of 1 percent from June, though 16 percent higher than July of 2014.’
‘With 22 units at 6 Mint coming available in July, there are 761 new condominiums available in the city, a 75 percent increase in the number of units year over year, but a 9 percent decrease from June.’
‘The Downtown Seattle Condominium Pricing Index for July was $757 per square foot, a decrease of 2 percent from the previous month, but a 4 percent increase from one year ago.’
http://www.multihousingnews.com/news/condo-prices-decrease-in-july-in-key-areas/1004125965.html
The suspension of mark-to-market requirements, which is allowing banks to hold onto these empty, foreclosed homes, and create an artificial supply “shortage” is absolutely devastating the housing markets across the country, and especially here in the PNW. Foreclosed homes here that sit vacant for more than a year start to rot. By year two of vacancy they’re almost totally worthless. Year three, or four? They’re beginning to return to the earth! Why does that matter? Well, it keeps a cheap foreclosed property off the market that a first time homebuyer might purchase, and once it’s started to deteriorate it’s only value is as a teardown. Who buys tear downs? Connected developers. 1%er speculators. Money laundering Chinese nationals. The property is then torn down, and where one house used to sit, 8 new ones are built. The best part? The new sh*t-box houses start in the “low” 500s, 600s, or 700s!
Pull the other one.
They don’t evaporate entirely in 4 years. Once again the wheels are coming of this rotting corpse of an economy. Sit tight.
Mafia - be a man, where do you live?
Houses depreciate my friend.
He is in the rust belt. That’s why he thinks $55/SF is reproduction cost! HA!
We construct in all 48 states Jingle_Fraud including your backyard. And $55/sq ft is on the high side.
What did you pay again? $150/sq ft? Ooooph.